A Canadian man is charged with exporting weapons to Syria

A Lebanese-Canadian citizen has been charged with facilitating the transfer of mortar shells from Iran that landed into the hands of ISIS, according to information obtained by CNN. Formerly employed as a journalist and…

A Canadian man is charged with exporting weapons to Syria

A Lebanese-Canadian citizen has been charged with facilitating the transfer of mortar shells from Iran that landed into the hands of ISIS, according to information obtained by CNN.

Formerly employed as a journalist and former government minister, Fabrice Grandji is accused of purchasing the weapons from Iran and transporting them through Jordan and Syria before returning to Canada in August of 2015, according to federal court filings from Canada’s border agency.

Iraq is currently embroiled in an armed conflict between ISIS militants and Iraqi forces seeking to reclaim territory taken from the terrorist group. Several rounds from a MOPP launcher — a type of 155mm mortar — were fired from a United States-built tank truck into Syria from Raqqa in November 2016, killing civilians, according to the US-led coalition in Iraq.

Grandji, who left Lebanon to become a Canadian citizen in 2015, was arrested and charged with one count of an offense contrary to Chapter 5 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency told CNN.

CNN previously reported on a Syrian rocket that landed near a Canadian airport in April 2017, and later on an explosive device found in a truck in Quebec in August of the same year, which both had been directed to strike an Israel airport.

The spokesperson for the CBSA confirmed that the agency was aware of the incident involving the mortar shells.

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