10 Canadians arrested for trying to join jihadist groups

Canadian police have arrested 10 young people for allegedly attempting to join jihadist groups in the Middle East, reports said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement, cited by The Canadian Press on Wednesday, that no charges had been laid yet and that the investigation was ongoing.

The RCMP statement did not specifically mention which group they were joining, but said the 10 youths were “suspected of wanting to leave the country to join jihadist groups”

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The youths, whose names and ages were not reported by the police, were arrested at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport last Friday, the report said.

“These are very difficult times for the relatives and loved ones of the persons arrested,” the RCMP said in the statement.

“As a result, family members often find themselves at a complete loss and unable to understand the decision made by the youth.”

The arrests come months after five boys and two girls from the Montreal area left the country and apparently joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Another Canadian teen was arrested in March for aiming to join the armed group that holds sway over vast area of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.