Brampton, Ontario ? Some of the 17 Muslim men accused of plotting terror bombings in Canada also planned to storm Parliament, take hostages and behead the prime minister and other leaders, according to accusations revealed Tuesday by the lawyer for one of the suspects.

Authorities further allege that the suspect, Steven Vikash Chand, plotted to take over media outlets, including Canadian Broadcasting Corp., his attorney said after a brief hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice.

Specifics of the charges against the other suspects were not released, but Chand’s lawyer, Gary Batasar, asked that the allegations against his client be read in court. He told The Associated Press later that others face similar accusations, but did not say who or how many.

An eight-page document prepared by the prosecution summarizing the charges against all the suspects was not read in open court or distributed to the media, making it difficult to assess how sophisticated the alleged plot was or its progress.

But the purported plot to take political leaders hostage and behead them if Muslim prisoners were not freed and Canada did not pull its 2,300 troops out of Afghanistan added a chilling dimension to a case that has led U.S. authorities to toughen security along the border and unsettled Canada’s large Muslim community.

Other defense attorneys declined to discuss the detailed charges. Batasar told AP that other suspects were facing similar allegations.

“It’s just generally speaking that the allegations are against my client as well as the other parties,” he said. “That’s what all the parties are facing.”

“The only reason I’m coming out and saying this is that my client is innocent of the charges; he protests his innocence and that’s not being heard,” Batasar added.

Police say they expect more arrests, and intelligence officers are probing whether 12 adults and five juveniles arrested over the weekend had any ties to Islamic terror cells in the United States and five nations in Europe and Asia.

Chand, a 25-year-old restaurant worker from Toronto, was one of 15 suspects who made brief court appearances Tuesday.

Formal bail hearings for the 15 were postponed until at least Monday.