CTV.ca News Staff
 
Updated: Fri. Jul. 14 2006 6:17 AM ET

A new report says a prominent member of Toronto's Muslim community infiltrated an alleged terror cell in Ontario as a mole for federal authorities.

The Toronto Star says the informant's identity is known within the community and even to some of the 17 terrorism suspects arrested in Ontario last month.

However, Canadian laws prohibits the newspaper from publishing his name.

The man worked for Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, and then became a paid RCMP agent once a criminal probe was launched, sources told the Star.

The agent told the newspaper that while he did not want to discuss the case, he looks forward to testifying in open court where his name will be made public.

"Justice should be served," he said.

The agent's name has not been revealed during court proceedings underway to determine if any of the 17 accused will be released on bail.

A publication ban prevents the media from reporting evidence presented.

Twelve men and five youths, all from the Toronto area, were charged last month in an alleged plot to attack targets in southern Ontario.

The youngest of the terror suspects, a 16-year-old, made a second attempt at bail on Wednesday.

Last month, a justice of the peace denied the boy bail.

The teen, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, faces charges of participating in a terrorist group and receiving training for terrorist purposes.

The boy spent the first few weeks following his arrest in solitary confinement in a Hamilton jail before being transferred to a youth facility, lawyer Michael Block told The Canadian Press.

Block painted his client as a spiritually confused teen.

"You have leaders, followers and the potential recruits," Block said outside the court.

"It may well be that the evidence, at the end of the day, finds he was merely a potential recruit."

So far, none of the 17 men and youth arrested have been granted bail.