The RCMP arrested a Toronto-area man in connection with a terror investigation Wednesday in a Quebec town near the U.S. border.
Police sources involved in the case confirmed to CBC News that the arrest happened in Ormstown, Que., and said it is connected to a terror investigation.
Investigators have not yet publicly issued any information about the arrest, which happened about 60 kilometres south of Montreal. Three other people were also detained as part of the investigation, sources say.
The man is believed to have been heading toward Roxham Road with the intention of illegally entering the United States, sources say, when he was arrested around 5 p.m. near the intersection of Gale and Church streets.
Ormstown resident Elizabeth Henshaw told Radio-Canada that she came home Wednesday to find dozens of police officers outside her home with a man handcuffed on her front lawn and a woman in cuffs on her front porch.
“[The police] said it was confidential and they couldn’t tell me what was going on,” she said.
Henshaw said police were also looking through a car that had been stopped on her street, before it was eventually taken away.
Police have not yet released any official information about the investigation. (Submitted)
She said Ormstown is a “very quiet little town,” with a population just under 4,000 people, according to Statistics Canada.
“It was very unusual, it was the talk of the town,” she said.
Images from the scene that were shared with CBC News, as well as others posted on social media, also show a heavy police presence near a gas station in the area.
Multiple officers — some in tactical gear — can be seen in photos that were shot on Wednesday.
Residents of the town reported hearing loud bangs ring out after an RCMP vehicle intentionally hit another vehicle, purportedly carrying a suspect in the case.
The RCMP has not commented on the operation, which was carried out by officers based in Ontario.