A security analyst wasn't surprised to learn of the arrest of 17 terror suspects and the breakup of a so-called homegrown cell in the Toronto area.

"Most of us were aware of the fact that these types of groups existed, and that certainly they were being monitored," Professor Sunil Ram told CTV.ca  on Saturday.

"The question was, when were the security services going to close these groups down?"

Ram said after security agencies have identified a potential terror group, they will monitor it in order to trace any linkages the cell might have.

The RCMP admitted on Saturday they had been investigating the group for months, but believed they had to move quickly on Friday night before the group launched an attack on Canadian soil.

"We were at the point in the investigation where we felt for public safety, it was time to arrest the individuals," RCMP assistant commission Mike McDonell told reporters at a news conference.

Police said they seized three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and a crude cell phone detonator during the arrests.

"It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," said McDonell. "If I can put this in context for you, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people was completed with only one tonne of ammonium nitrate."

This is not the first time such an arrest announcement has been made. Another high-profile case was Project Thread, but that turned into an embarrassment for the authorities.

In August 2003, RCMP and immigration forces swooped down on what they claimed was an al Qaeda sleeper cell. One of those arrested was a flying student whose flight path took him over the Pickering nuclear power station just east of Toronto.

A total of 23 people -- all but one from Pakistan -- were arrested, but ultimately, none were convicted or even charged with terrorism-related crimes. All were eventually deported on immigration violations.

But Ram said this latest case is different, noting the evidence seized.

"This was obviously a more sophisticated group," he told CTV.ca. "They obviously had some heavy financing from somewhere."

Ram said the key question will be whether the group got the money from outside or engaged in criminal activity to fund any potential terror activity.

Radical Islam's reach

While the initial reaction from various Canadian Muslim groups has been to praise the arrests and disavow terrorism, Ram said there are disaffected Muslims who are not represented by these mainstream organizations.

In the age of the Internet, he said radical Islamist groups like al Qaeda have taken advantage of technology to give instantaneous global reach to their ideology.

Given that there are approximately one billion Muslims worldwide, "you only need one per cent of them to be radicalized and you'll be fighting this war forever."

At a news conference Saturday providing information about the arrests, CSIS's Luc Portelance said, "for various reasons (the suspects) appear to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al Qaeda."

Muslim militants such as Mohammad Sidique Khan, believed to be the leader of the July 7, 2005 suicide attacks on London's transit that killed 52 and wounded hundreds, point to the West's military campaigns against Muslim countries as justification for their acts.

"Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate atrocities against my people all over the world," Khan said in his martyr's video.

"Your support of them makes you directly responsible, just as I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters.

"Until we feel secure, you will be our targets. And until you stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people we will not stop this fight."

Khan -- a 30-year-old, British-born father of one -- described al Qaeda's leaders as "heroes," although a direct link between al Qaeda and the attacks has never been proved.

Canada has been mentioned in statements by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Canadian solders are fighting the mujahedeen in Afghanistan. However, a Taliban leader has said they don't consider Canadian soldiers to be the enemy in the way they hate the Americans -- although he warned Canadians to leave.

However, the Taliban, who have close relations with al Qaeda, have launched attacks on Canadian troops.

"There's a practicality to this," Ram said. "Al Qaeda operations have shifted to softer targets. They don't need to blow up Canadian targets when they can shoot at Canadian soldiers. It's a lot easier to kill a Canadian soldier or blow up a vehicle in Afghanistan than it is to launch an attack here."

Ram said the fact this new alleged terrorist group is homegrown -- as was the group behind the London bombings and the assassin of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh -- adds a whole new dimension.

He feels that part of the problem is ethnic groups in a city like Toronto can become compartmentalized, if not marginalized.

"As I've said, you only need one per cent of one group to cause a problem."

He adds another big question is how many other like-minded individuals might be out there.

"That's the issue they have to address. And it's a lot harder to identify Canadian home-grown terrorists because they know how to operate in our society. They are part of our society."

Ram said unfortunately, if there are enough of them, a future attack could be successful. The London transit bombings and the March 11, 2004 attacks in Madrid are evidence of that.

Groupthink

Asked why we don't see a lone disaffected Muslim conducting a suicide attack at rush hour in Union Station, a major Toronto transit hub, Ram said: "Partly because it's not that easy to do. For starters, you have to know how to build a bomb."

The information is out there. Anyone even mildly savvy with computers and the Internet can find instructions online, he said.

"When it comes to this bomb-making business, you don't have to go to jihadi websites. There are plenty of English-language websites from right-wing neo-Nazi groups that provide this type of material too."

However, there's a catch.

"It sounds simple, but building bombs is a reasonably sophisticated process. You have to understand some basic chemistry and electronics, and not everybody has that skill set, obviously."

However, Ram said a major factor in planning an attack is building up the motivation to go through with it. "For an individual, that's very hard. But in a group setting, that's very easy."

He said conventional armies traditionally try to recruit soldiers between the ages of 15 and 21. For the first part of their training, the recruits are isolated from society and indoctrinated.

"There's a very specific reason why recruits are in that range. They are young males who are looking to become part of a group."

That age range is similar to the people arrested in the latest Toronto raids, with only two aged 30 or older.

"There's a group dynamic in which these people feed off each other ... There's the same psychology at work" in terror cells as the army, Ram said.

"The only difference is that these individuals' motivation is ideologically based in radical Islam ... and to the extent that they are willing to take their own life."

While Canadians like to think they're a little different from the rest of the West, radical Islamists don't see us that way, Ram said.

"It was only a matter of time before this came to the surface in Canada."