Canada

• 2009 - 2013
• Canada ,
• Syrian Arab Republic

Identification of the Source

Mindb4Act Project report

Description

XX1 was born in 1989
In 2008 he converted to Islam and met XX2, a mother who had already converted to Islam a few years prior.
In 2009 he moved in with the family of XX2 and her husband, then he was arrested at least twice;
XX1 was arrested again in 2010;
Around 2011, XX1 moved to Toronto;
In 2012 he left to Syria;
XX1 died in Syria in 2013;
In July and September 2014, the Islamic State has posthumously featured XX1 in two major films: "Al-Ghuraba: The Chosen Few from Different Lands" and "Flames of War".

Type of Crime

A young man from Timmins, Canada, was arrested on charges of making violent threats against the husband of a friend of him, for making death threats to that man after he was caught having an affair with the common-law wife of the same man whose house he was then living in as well as arrests for harassment, theft, and carrying a weapon illegally and accused of terrorism.
Then he joined the Jihad and Isis by emigrating to Syria.

Modus Operandi

- Identify possible technologies, which helped in committing the crime(s)
Internet
- Identify possible technologies, which helped in preventing to commit the crime(s)
- Which tools have been used for passing information; technological tool, networking of people, family etc.

People involved

XX1;
XX2 and her Pakistani husband;
three young men of Somali background.

Criminal History

XX1 had a troubled youth, including some criminal activity, before he left for Syria.
According to the prosecutor in Timmins, Ontario, Poulin was arrested twice before converting to Islam in 2008.

Influential and/or vulnerable Groups

It seems that his initial exposure to a radical universe began not long after his conversion to Islam. Even if available information is not totally clear, XX1 appeared to have gone online to speak with individuals on the Internet, which may have been the main instigator in his conversion to a narrow-minded view of Islam. According to several testimonies, XX1 began at this point to actively seek information about Islam on the Internet and from there met several people and discourses that pushed him towards the adoption of even more extremist views about Islam.
He talked about making bombs — he admitted he looked on the Internet at ‘The Anarchist Cookbook’ about how to build bombs with materials you buy at the grocery store…”. “…He said he doesn’t care if he went to jail. Then he says that nobody is going to help him and that everybody is out to get him. He said something had to be done and he talked about sacrificing himself.
Around 2011, XX1 told family and friends that he was moving to Toronto to be closer to other Muslims. In Toronto, Poulin was a housemate of three young men of Somali background who themselves “had radicalized” and whom researchers now believe were forces in XX1's radicalization.