MONTREAL, Canada
Police in Canada have arrested 10 people for allegedly trying to join militant groups such as Daesh abroad, it was announced Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement that the suspects had been taken into custody in a series of arrests made last week at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport in Canada's Montreal city.
"No charges have been laid at this time, and the investigation is ongoing," the statement added.
Police did not mention Daesh, but said that they were “suspected of wanting to leave the country to join jihadist groups.” The local media, however, said that authorities believed that the suspects intended to join Daesh.
"The international jihadist movement has declared war on Canada. We will not sit on the sidelines." Public Safety Minister Stephen Blaney said about the arrests.
Thousands of foreign fighters from all over the world are believed to have joined groups such as Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
Turkey, which shares a long border with Syria, has deported many suspects to date for allegedly trying to cross into Syria to join Daesh.
Interview rooms at Istanbul's airports and at the city's largest bus terminal have helped Turkish authorities deport more than 300 suspected foreigner fighters, the Istanbul counter-terrorism department told The Anadolu Agency on April 30.
On April 1, Turkish authorities had caught Waheed A. and eight other British citizens, including four children, while allegedly trying to illegally enter Syria from Turkey's southern Hatay province to join militant groups, including Daesh.
