"The investigation, which McDonell said involved more than 400 persons, also included Canada's intelligence agency, the Canada Security and Intelligence Agency.

Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations for CSIS, said the arrested men "are Canadian residents from a variety of backgrounds. For various reasons, they appear to become adherents of virulent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda." But McDonell later suggested investigators had found no direct connection with al-Qaeda."