One of three men facing terrorism charges in Canada may have a Calgary connection.

It’s believed Khadar Khalib grew up in the city, after moving to Alberta from Ontario, was raised in the northwest and went to school at Ecole de la Sauvage Rose.

According to reports, Khalib graduated in 2009, before heading east to study at Algonquin College.

Court records also show, that a man named Khadar Khalib was arrested for theft under $5,000 after a 2012 incident at The Bay, a warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to appear in court that October.

Local Imam and founder of Muslims Against Terrorism Syed Soharwardy says he wasn’t surprised to learn of another young Calgarian who has ties to ISIS.

“It was sad and quite disturbing but it’s something that I’ve been expecting,” he said. “We know that there are almost 30 Calgarians fighting for ISIL and ISIS and almost 150 Canadians are there, but I think it gives us more reason to be vigilant and reach out to those people who are vulnerable to recruitment and give them the correct information about Islam and the Muslim community.”

Soharwardy wouldn’t go so far to call the city a hot spot, telling 660News the city has been thrust into the spotlight after three Calgarians gained national attention for heading to the Middle East (Salman Ashrafi, Farah Shirdon and Damian Clairmont.)

“I believe there are people recruiting (in Calgary), facilitating, funding, you don’t get money through Internet, you get it through banks and you get it through people, so if people are travelling, someone is funding and facilitating them,” he said.

Soharwardy says he’s expecting more recruiters to be caught and arrested in the coming weeks and months.

“I think Calgary is doing reasonably ok, other cities as well, but my approach is not what we’re doing today, we have legislation that is very reactive in nature,” he replied, when asked if we were doing enough to keep our young people from leaving.

He believes the new legislation introduced by the federal government, should instead focus on preventing people from leaving and targeting the recruiter.

“I’m glad yesterday, someone was caught, who was a recruiter,” he said. “We need to do those things, the government must go after the recruiters and the people who are doing the brain-washing.”

According to the Imam, hate is not just spreading against only Jews and Christians, but also Muslims who disagree with the philosophy of the “Islamic State.”

Soharwardy adds if we were more pro-active in trying to arrest these people, the threat of terrorism would decrease dramatically.

He spoke two days ago with Senators on Parliament Hill, in hopes of getting their help in changing the law.

660News reached out to Khalib’s former High School and was told they couldn’t comment because of the ongoing RCMP investigation.

Mounties say they will not be commenting further on Khalib or the other two suspects.