Canada Arrests 10 Young People on Suspicion of Attempting to Join ISIS

On May 18, the Canadian police announced that they had arrested 10 young individuals at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport the previous week, who were attempting to join the group known as the 'Islamic State.' According to Agence France-Presse, the exact charges against these individuals have not yet been disclosed, but Canadian police stated that they intended to join ISIS members in Iraq and Syria. The Associated Press also reported from a statement by the Canadian police, released late Tuesday Canadian time, that the passports of these 10 individuals have been confiscated. The police have not revealed their identities as the specific charges against them have not been announced. However, the statement mentioned that investigators have met with family members and friends of the detained youths. The Canadian police have asked the media to respect the privacy of the detainees' families, stating, 'This is a very difficult time for the families of the detainees, as the decision to leave the country was made personally rather than within the family.' This is the latest round of arrests in Western countries of individuals who intended to join the Islamic State or had already joined or supported the group. Last year, in anti-terrorism operations in European countries, dozens of suspects were arrested in various countries, and some were killed following security forces' attacks. The UK increased its security measures last summer to address those who had joined extremists in Iraq and Syria and were returning to the country. Canada has also been the scene of attacks; last October, following a shooting in the Canadian Parliament grounds in Ottawa, a Canadian soldier guarding the Parliament building and the shooter were killed. Two days before that attack, a 25-year-old Canadian citizen, who was reportedly radicalized after converting to Islam, ran over two Canadian soldiers in Quebec, where Montreal is located, killing one of them. In this context, the increase in the number of foreign fighters in Syria is 'unprecedented.' Canada conducted its first airstrike against ISIS in Iraq and is joining airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.