Defence questions RCMP undercover agent over note-taking in Ismael Habib trial

The defence lawyer for Ismael Habib, the Montreal man on trial onterror-related charges,pressed an undercover agent Wednesday about why he seemed to take notes only about Habib's politics and religion when the agent was not supposed to know what the investigation was about.

Habibwas arrested lastFebruary in Gatineauafter an apparent domestic altercationandcharged two weeks later on two counts:attempting to leave Canada to commit terrorist actsand giving false information to obtain a passport.

His trial is underway in Montreal, before Quebec Court Judge SergeDlisle.

Federal Crown prosecutor Lyne Dcariehas so far called on three undercover RCMP officers to testify about their special operations in the investigation of 29-year-old Habib. All of the agents' identities are protectedbya publication ban.

• IsmaelHabibsubject of multiple undercover sting operations, Quebec Court hears
• QuebecerIsmaelHabibon trial for terrorism-related charge

Agent's notes about politics, religion

Undercover agents have directives for their mission, but they are not supposed to be given details about the investigation they're taking part in.

In cross-examination on the third day of the trial Wednesday, defence lawyer Charles Montpetit reviewed the first agent's earlier testimony in whichthe agent describeddriving from Montreal to Bainsville, Ont., and back with Habib.

The agent testified that during that drive, Habib said Muslim women are preferable to other Quebecwomenand that he married for religious reasons.

The agent also wrote in his notes that Habib said he had a wife overseasand a girlfriend in Gatineau,and when the girlfriend found out about the wife she was apprehensive but eventually understanding.

Montpetit asked the agent why he wrote those snippets of conversation down information about Habib's politics and religion when he didn't know what the investigation was supposed to be about.

"I just wrote notes as they appeared in my head," said the agent.

The agent's mission involved deliveringfake passports picked up in Montreal to Ontario.

Montpetit asked if the agentmight have made mental associations between passports and terrorism, which may have had an impact onwhat notes he wrote. The agent denied that suggestion, saying he wrote down what stuck out to him.

Testimony from 'the Boss'

A third undercover RCMP officer, known as 'the Boss,' tookthe witness box late Wednesday afternoon.

He testified that in his first few operations, he was to meet Habibunder the pretence ofhiring him for odd jobs, while mining him for information.

In an earlier undercover operation, the court heard, Habib had told an agent he was having problems with police.

In a series of meetings in December 2015, the Boss was tasked with finding out what those problems were.

In one meeting, Habib told the Boss he had been followed by RCMP officers for three years.

The Boss also testified that Habib asked him whether he knew someone who could steal his partner's car so he could get theinsurance money.

The court heard that Habib was hired for for two jobs in December2015: first, to deliver a package, then to help evict a family from an apartment. Habibcompletedboth tasks, and the Boss paid him $500.

The Boss's testimony is expected to continue on Thursday morning.