Ottawa police say they seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition in raids during the investigation of three men now charged in last month’s firebombing of a local bank — an attack that stoked fears of violence at next week’s G8 and G20 summits.
Ottawa residents Roger Clement, 58, Matthew Morgan-Brown, 32, and Claude Haridge, 50, are facing multiple charges. The suspects appeared briefly in an Ottawa court Saturday and were ordered held in custody until their next court appearance later this month.
Ottawa Police Chief Vern White said the 7.62 ammunition investigators discovered is used in high-powered rifles, but no rifles were discovered in the raids.
“There’s not a lot of reasons for anyone to have 7.62 ammunition, hundreds of rounds in particular,” White said.
“When . . . you find out that there’s a large amount of ammunition among the same group who purport to be anarchists but act more like terrorists, then it makes it more concerning for us.”
The RCMP and Ontario Provincial Police were also involved in the 30-day investigation, which determined the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device and an accelerant, like gasoline or lighter fluid.
Police said two of the suspects were also charged with an attack on another Royal Bank branch in Ottawa earlier this year, where two people were seen damaging windows and bank machines with rocks and a hammer.
Police indicated further charges could be laid under the federal anti-terrorism law.
No one was injured in the May 18 bombing at the Royal Bank branch in Ottawa’s affluent Glebe neighbourhood, but the explosion caused $500,000 in damage.
An anarchist group that calls itself FFFC-Ottawa claimed responsibility for the attack and promised further action during the G8 and G20 summit meetings coming this week in Huntsville and Toronto. The attack was recorded on a video camera and posted online.
A group statement said the Royal Bank was targeted because it sponsored the Vancouver Olympics, which were “held on stolen indigenous land.”
RCMP and Toronto police service officers involved in G8-G20 security were at the Saturday news conference, eager to talk about preparations.
“We are on fairly high alert for the G8-G20,” said Chief Supt. Pat Teolis, director general of major events and protective services for the RCMP. “We’re really prepared for anything.”