One of three men arrested in an alleged plot to attack Canadian government buildings and public transit systems is facing a new terrorism-related charge.
Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, an X-ray technician at an Ottawa hospital, was charged Wednesday with making or possessing an explosive substance for terrorist purposes.
He was in court for a bail hearing on earlier charges of conspiracy to facilitate terrorism.
RCMP announced last month that they seized more than 50 homemade circuit-board detonators in the course of their Project Samossa investigation.
They arrested three men, all Canadian citizens, and charged them with conspiracy to facilitate a terrorist act although police said they were not believed to have gotten far enough to have assembled a working bomb.
The lead suspect remains Hiva Alizadeh, who until Tuesday had been the only accused to have faced explosives charges.
A third man, Dr. Khurram Sher, faces a terrorism conspiracy charge.
About 10 family members were in court Wednesday to support Ahmed, who wore a blue dress shirt and smiled when he walked into the Elgin Street courtroom to acknowledge his family's presence.
Evidence at the Ottawa bail hearing was placed under a publication ban to protect the three accused's rights to a fair trial.
Police have indicated they have extensive surveillance evidence of the alleged terror conspiracy.
Police said they also seized terrorist literature, videos and manuals in the Aug. 26 raids.
Investigators said others were involved in the plan, which could reach far beyond Canada's borders to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Dubai.
Three men believed to be living abroad have been named as unindicted co-conspirators.
Ahmed worked as an X-ray technician at an Ottawa, Sher is a doctor of pathology who once danced and sang on the Canadian Idol program, and Alizadeh studied electrical engineering technology in Winnipeg.
