Canadian twins plead guilty to terrorism, face jail time

Ottawa: Canadian twin brothers who had hoped to join the Islamic State (IS) group pleaded guilty to "terrorism" offenses and were sentenced today to prison terms, prosecutors announced.

The brothers, Ashton and Carlos Larmond, both 25, received sentences of 17 and seven years, respectively.

A third man, Suliman Mohamed, 23, faces a seven-year term for conspiring with the twins.

In court, prosecutor Douglas Curliss described Ashton as the "organizer and director" of an unspecified extremist plot.

Police alleged that he had urged others to wage jihad after his mother alerted the authorities of his plan to travel to Syria to join the IS group in 2013 and the government revoked his passport.

Later, on the day in October 2014 when a gunman shot dead a ceremonial guard and attempted to storm the parliament building in Ottawa, Ashton allegedly bragged to an undercover agent that he had "bigger plans."

Within hours of his arrest in January 2015 after a lengthy investigation, his brother Carlos was apprehended as he boarded a flight at Montreal's international airport.

Carlos acknowledged in court that he was planning to join the IS group in Syria.

At the time of their arrest, the trio were presented by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as an extremist "cluster."