<div><p>A Toronto man Monday pleaded not guilty to plotting to bomb Canada's main stock exchange in 2006, as prosecutors said he aimed to profit from wreaking economic havoc to fund other terror attacks.</p><p>Shareef Abdelhaleem, 34, is accused of conspiring to bomb the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada's spy agency offices and a military base in order to try to provoke Canada's withdrawal from Afghanistan.</p><p>He was arrested with 17 alleged Islamic extremists in a 2006 police sting operation after the group sought to purchase three tonnes of bomb-making ingredient ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers.</p><p>According to reports, he saw an opportunity to profit from blowing up the Toronto Stock Exchange by short-selling stocks before the bombings and reap a windfall that could be used to fund more terror attacks abroad.</p><p>While his co-conspirators were impressionable young men with modest means, bent on destruction and mayhem for "religiously-inspired political purposes," prosecutors say Abdelhaleem was motivated primarily by financial gain.</p><p>The plan was "to affect the economy, to make it lose half a trillion dollars," said court documents cited by the daily Globe and Mail.</p><p>Abdelhaleem was charged with participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion.</p><p>Police said he was taped describing the plot to detonate a fertilizer bomb to destroy three blocks around the Toronto Stock Exchange to a paid police informant posing as a co-conspirator.</p><p>The informant reportedly wore a wire at their frequent meetings at coffee shops and a Chinese buffet in Toronto, and was paid a record 4.1 million Canadian dollars (4.0 million US) to infiltrate the group.</p><p>Abdelhaleem's lawyer William Naylor told the Globe and Mail his client had been "entrapped" by police.</p><p>He described Abdelhaleem to reporters as "relatively un-Islamic," and someone who does not fit the typical profile of a terror suspect.</p><p>Before his arrest, Abdelhaleem earned a six-figure salary as a computer programmer and drove a luxury car.</p><p>Born in the Middle East, he moved to Canada with his family in the 1980s.</p><p>Abdelhaleem is the first adult to stand trial in the case. Four others have pleaded guilty, one youth was convicted and charges against seven others were dropped or stayed. Five still face trial.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=66724517&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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