The 18 men arrested in Toronto this summer intended to shelter two suspected Islamist terrorists from the United States and start a resistance in northern Ontario based on the Chechnyan uprising. Canada's National Post interviewed the mole who infiltrated the group and discovered the extent of their plans against their own nation (via Newsbeat1):

A group of young Toronto men were planning to harbour two Americans accused of terrorist activity and protect them by setting up an armed "Chechnya style resistance" in northern Ontario against law enforcement officials, a police informant who infiltrated the alleged local extremist cell said in a CBC news program.

Mubin Shaikh, a former army cadet and paid police mole, revealed last night on The Fifth Estate that he helped look for a safe house in Opasatika, Ont. for two Atlanta men who authorities say were planning a terrorist attack in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice claims that Syed Haris Ahmed and his friend Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, both from Georgia, spent a week in Toronto and met with the alleged members of the "Toronto 18." They have both been indicted on charges of providing material support to terrorists.

"They were going to come up here for refuge and what we were going to do was provide a safe house for them and we even scoped the area out, did a little recognizance," Mr. Shaikh said. The plan was to have a resistance -- a Chechnya-style resistance in northern Ontario in the bushes... to have guys up there, we would fortify ourselves and if they came looking for us, we were going to take them on. We looked at the road and were saying we're going to booby-trap this, we're going to have snipers over here. "It was planned out."

Some people have downplayed the threat from the homegrown Canadian terror cell. The infiltration of Shaikh into the group allowed the Canadian security forces to divert them from purchasing real explosive materials, and the lack of an imminent attack makes this look like the Miami ring of mouthbreathers picked up by the FBI later in the summer. However, Shaikh does not share that assessment. He told the Post that he informed his CSIS handler that the ringleader was a "f---ing time bomb", and they apparently picked him up before he went off.

These homegrown cells represent the biggest domestic threat for both nations. The CSIS and RCMP appear to be up to the task of dismantling them, and we hope that the FBI has as much success.

UPDATE: It's Canada's National Post, not the Canada Post, who deliver the mail. Thanks to CQ reader David R, who sent me a funny message noting the difference.

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