Shaher Elsohemy

A prominent Egyptian-Canadian Muslim, Shaher Elsohemy was paid $4 million by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for his role in infiltrating the alleged terrorist plot in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case; although some have claimed he acted as an agent provocateur, their claim failed in court.

He was given legal immunity to "knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity" and asked to help the accused acquire credit cards and purchase explosives.

Life The Agricultural engineering graduate studied and spent much of his early life in Cairo, Egypt, but returned to Canada in 2000 and started a five-year career as a flight attendant for Air Canada.

He left his job to open his own catering business, which closed the following year.

The RCMP negotiated with him for six hours but were unable to convince him to help them for any less than $13.4 million, and at 10pm, they agreed to schedule a meeting the following day to continue their negotiation. The RCMP refused to meet his demands and the meeting ended still without resolution, although an internal memo stated that the police force had better agree to meet his price or else he might "become hostile as a witness, difficult to control and seek other avenues to be compensated". At their final meeting, the police agreed they would pay him an award of $500,000 although the cost of relocation and protection was estimated at 4.1 million.

A month later, both intelligence and police units co-operated to stage a series of raids across the Greater Toronto Area, arresting 16 young men and an older man alleged to have acted as their ringleader. By April 2008, seven of the alleged terrorists, including the alleged ringleader, were released after the Crown suggested there was no evidence they had planned anything themselves.