TERROR SUSPECTS IN CANADA PLANNED TO DERAIL TRAIN AT BRIDGE CAUSING IT TO TUMBLE 200 FEET INTO THE NIAGARA RIVER

Terror suspect Chiheb Esseghaier being led off a plane by Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The accused Al Qaeda plotters in Canada were planning to derail a New York-to-Toronto train as it crossed a bridge at the border — and send it tumbling into the Niagara River more than 200 feet below.

But their sick scheme was stopped in its tracks by a top Muslim cleric in Toronto who blew the whistle on them, officials said Tuesday.

“The plan was to take out a train with passengers on board and the crossing trestle,” a police source told the Toronto Sun newspaper. “It was meant to be spectacular and there would have been a lot of carnage.”

Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, who are charged with various terrorism-related offenses, both face a bail hearing later Tuesday in Toronto.
Muhammad Robert Heft, a Muslim community leader in Toronto, didn't identify the tipster cleric. But he said they wanted fellow Canadians to know they oppose terrorism too.

"There is going to be backlash," he said. "But I want to reiterate. Who was the one who tipped the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) off? It was our community."
Neither suspect is a Canadian citizen, although both are longtime legal residents. And Canadian authorities say both men were being directed by Al Qaeda handlers based in Iran.

Whirlpool Bridge which connects Niagara Falls N.Y. to Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Iran denied any involvement in the plot to blow up the the train on the Whirlpool Bridge, which connects Niagara Falls, N.Y., to Niagara Falls, Ontario.
They insisted that Al Qaeda has “no compatibility with Iran in both political and ideological fields.”

“We oppose any terrorist and violent action that would jeopardize lives of innocent people,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
Iranians are Shiite Muslims while Al Qaeda members follow a warped version of the Sunni Muslim religion.
Still, Iran has sheltered members of Osama Bin Laden’s family in the past.

Esseghaier, 30, who lived in Montreal, was identified by Canadian media as a Tunisian-born engineer working on a Ph.D. in “developing optical and electrochemical biosensors.”
Jaser, who is 35 and lived in Toronto, is believed to be a Palestinian who grew up in the United Arab Emirates, officials said.
Sources reported that the plotters were targeting a passenger train bound for Canada out of Penn Station in Manhattan.
When Amtrak trains from New York cross the border, service switches to Canadian Via Rail.
“There was not an imminent threat to Amtrak passengers, employees or the general public,” Amtrak said in a statement.
The Canadian terror arrests did not appear to have any connection to the Boston Marathon.