The terrorist group that President Barack Obama famously referred to as the “JV team” may be gaining ground in Canada and Mexico. On Wednesday an Islamic State sympathizer blew himself up in Ontario during an encounter with police, and another man arrested in Ohio reportedly told federal investigators the “Islamic state has brothers in Mexico.”
According to multiple media reports, 24-year-old Canadian citizen Aaron Driver’s plans to detonate a bomb in an urban area were disrupted when the FBI shared intelligence with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The tip led police to Driver’s hometown of Strathroy, Ont., located about halfway between Detroit and Toronto.
Authorities caught up with Driver on Wednesday. Driver reportedly detonated one of his explosives while seated in the backseat of a taxicab. Police shot and killed Driver after he set off the first bomb, which left the cab owner with non life-threatening injuries.
On Thursday police released a video Driver made in which the 24-year-old railed against “enemies of Islam” and pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“Oh Canada, you received many warnings. You were told many times what will become of those who fight against the Islamic State,” said in his video. “You watched as your allies in Europe and America had their bullets and bombs returned back to them. You saw bodies of the filthy French laying in their own streets.”
Driver had actually been issued what is known as a “Canadian peace bond” earlier this year from a court in Winnipeg. The conditions of the bond meant Driver had to live at his Strathroy home and check in with police twice each month. According to the CBC, peace bonds are “issued by a court in cases where authorities fear an individual is likely to commit an offense but there is no evidence that an offense has already been committed.”
It was not until the FBI alerted the RCMP and shared with them his martyrdom video that police moved in on Driver.
Meanwhile, despite the Obama Administration denial that ISIS has established terrorist encampments in Mexico, a transcript of a conversation that took place between an alleged ISIS operative in Ohio and undercover federal investigators indicates the camps do in fact exist.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Erick Jamal Hendricks, 35, “tried to recruit people to train together and conduct terrorist attacks in the United States on behalf of ISIL.”
The DOJ alleges that Hendricks managed to create a “sleeper cell” featuring at least 10 terrorists.
“Hendricks informed CW-1 (another ISIS operative) that he ‘needed people’ and that he wanted to meet CW-1 in person,” the criminal complaint states. “CW-1 provided Hendricks with CW-1’s location, after which Hendricks stated that he was able to travel and would meet with CW-1 in a couple of months.”
“Hendricks also stated there were several ‘brothers’ located in Mexico and Texas, that was attempting to ‘get brothers to meet face-to-face,’ and that he wanted to ‘get brothers to train together.’
In April 2015, Mexican authorities confirmed to Judicial Watch, the Washington-based government watchdog, that ISIS established a camp just miles south of El Paso, Texas.
Read the entire Hendricks criminal complaint here:
Aaron Driver (Courtesy — Associated Press) 
