TORONTO - Canadian police have arrested a man on suspicion of lying about having joined Islamic State and committed execution-style killings, charging him with "hoax-terrorist activity," authorities said late on Friday.
Starting in 2016, Shehroze Chaudhry, made social media posts talking about his role with Islamic State and also gave several media interviews but a Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation found the 25-year-old had no links to the group.
"The charge stems from numerous media interviews where the accused ... claimed he traveled to Syria in 2016 to join the terrorist group ISIS and committed acts of terrorism," the RCMP said in a statement.
The RCMP said the interviews and podcasts that featured on a television documentary raised public safety concerns amongst Canadians.
He initially told CBC News he joined ISIS in 2014 as an enforcer in the Syrian city of Manbij.
Chaudhry also gave detailed accounts of shooting blindfolded, tied-up civilians in the back of the head when speaking on the New York Times podcast Caliphate.
Chaudhry will appear in an Ontario court on Nov. 16."Hoaxes can generate fear within our communities and create the illusion there is a potential threat to Canadians, while we have determined otherwise," the RCMP said.
"As a result, the RCMP takes these allegations very seriously, particularly when individuals, by their actions, cause the police to enter into investigations in which human and financial resources are invested and diverted from other ongoing priorities."
Many other Canadians have been charged with terrorism offenses for joining Islamic State.