Mubin Shaikh

Mubin Shaikh was born and raised in Canada and at age 19, travelled to Pakistan near Afghanistan was had a chance encounter with the Taliban before their takeover in 1995. Consequently, Mubin became a supporter of the Jihadi narrative but never engaged in any violence. In early 2002, after the 9/11 attacks, he travelled to Syria to study Arabic and Islamic Studies for 2 years and became convinced that his violent interpretation was incorrect.

Returning to Canada in 2004, he volunteered with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as an undercover operator, undertaking several projects. Upon successfully infiltrating a cell of aspiring Jihadi's, Mubin then became an Agent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in what came to be known as the "Toronto 18" case and is responsible for the conviction of 11 from the group. He testified in five separate legal proceedings over four years ending in 2010.

He has since completed a Master of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (MPICT) from Macquarie University as well as obtained competencies in Criminal Investigative Analysis and Criminal Intelligence Analysis and Management. He is considered to be one of a very few in North America to have gone through his own period of radicalization, de-radicalization and become an undercover operative in a domestic terrorism investigation. Details of his other work with CSIS remains unavailable.

The Toronto 18 case - alongside the evidence from court - is found here: http://www3.thestar.com/static/toronto18/index.html