3 bombs found in car in Toronto's east end
Last Updated: Friday, August 31, 2007 | 12:31 PM ET
CBC News
Toronto police cordoned off an area in the city's east end Friday after three bombs were discovered in a car trunk, and they were being described as "similar" to letter bombs recently sent to three southern Ontario homes.

Just after noon ET, a special explosives trailer carrying the devices began making its way along the Don Valley Parkway to an isolated area at the edge of Lake Ontario so they can be defused. The southbound lanes were closed to regular traffic during the transport of the devices.

Bomb disposal units used remote-controlled robots to remove the devices into the special explosives trailer for transport, the CBC's Jamie Strashin reported from the scene.

Investigators were also searching a residence on Ashdale Avenue.

Police alleged the devices were discovered after a 37-year-old man driving the vehicle was arrested late Thursday night in connection with three letter-bomb incidents earlier this month.

Early Friday, the emergency task force sealed off the area around Overlea Boulevard, Millwood Drive and Don Mills Road, as well as the entire Thorncliffe Park Drive loop.

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"They're bombs … three of them," Deputy Police Chief Tony Warr said to reporters at the scene about the alleged discovery in the trunk Friday morning.

"Primarily, we've just been trying to make them safe, which we have so far."

Police say suspect's alleged motive personal

Warr said investigators believe the three earlier incidents are linked to the devices found Friday - "They're similar" — and that the motive appears personal.

Two of the letters were sent to homes in Toronto, while another was sent to a residence in Guelph.

On the evening of Aug. 11, a man in the Victoria Park Avenue-Lawrence Avenue East area sustained injuries to his hands after he opened an envelope he received at his home and it exploded.

Eight days later, a real estate lawyer found an envelope at his home in the Yonge Street-Sheppard Avenue West area that afternoon. The package smelled like petroleum, so he notified police and it was safely detonated. Police said it was rigged to explode if opened.

On Aug. 22, a self-employed home renovator found a Canada Post Xpresspost envelope at the rear of his Guelph home, but didn't open it and called police. Media reports said the letter was detonated at the scene and contained enough explosive to take the man's head off had it exploded.

Similar packages mailed to addresses in Toronto and Guelph did not explode, authorities have said.

Police said Adel Arnaout, 37, of Toronto, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, three counts of intending to cause an explosion, and possession of explosives for an unlawful purpose. He is scheduled to appear in a Toronto court later Friday.

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