Ali Dirie

Mohammed Ali Dirie was one of 17 people connected to arrests on June 2 and June 3, 2006, in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests. He was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released in October 2011, left Canada in 2012, and reportedly died in 2013 fighting in the Syrian Civil War, although his death has not been conclusively verified.

Life Dirie moved from Somalia to Canada at the age of 7 with his mother as a refugee. and he spoke of wanting to go to college to become a radiologic technologist (radiographer). Progressive Conservative party leader John Tory wrote an open letter to Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty suggesting that the arrests indicated more attention must be paid to weapons smuggling at the border.

American Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms used the arrests of two Canadians importing restricted firearms into Canada as an opportunity to espouse the view that Americans were being unfairly blamed for Canada's gun problems.

Terrorism charges Dirie and Mohamed both pleaded guilty to charges of possession and importing firearms, and the Crown dropped the charges of possession and importing for the purposes of trafficking. They were sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

Nine months into their sentence, both men were charged with importing firearms for the benefit of a terrorist group and participating in a terrorist group, when Ahmad – who had paid for their rental car – was charged in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case. Dirie was denied bail in August 2008 by judge Gisele Marguerite Miller.

As a result of preferred direct indictment by the Crown Attorney on September 24, 2007, Dirie was re-arrested and faced two charges after the Crown dropped the third charge of providing property to aid and abet a terrorist organization. In September 2009, Dirie pleaded guilty to procuring weapons, arranging false travel documents and trying to recruit extremists for a domestic terrorist. He was housed at the Special Handling Unit in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec for his sentence. With credit for time served Dirie was released in 2011.