Puppet master of covert RCMP operation describes how Ismael Habib was reeled in

Undercover RCMP officers started integrating themselves into Ismael Habib's world more than half a year before his eventual arrest, a Quebec Court judge heard on Wednesday.

The puppet master of those operations, James Parent, took the witness box. Parent istheRCMP handler who met with investigators to determine their objectives and then put them into action, via 22 undercover scenarios.

• Ismael Habib confesses to whipping Syrian prisoner, supporting ISIS in Mr. Big sting

Parent said the RCMPintroduced Habib to an undercover RCMP agent known as "the Boss" in July 2015. It was not until seven months later thatHabib confessed his intentionto join ISIS in Syria to the Boss in a filmed sting, presented as evidence earlier in the trial.

Habib, 29, is accused of trying to go overseas to commit terrorist acts and providing false information to obtain a passport. He was arrested inGatineau, Que., in February 2016 on unrelated charges.

He was denied bail on those charges and was subsequently chargedon the terrorism-related allegations. Wednesday is the eighth day of his trial, which is taking place in a Montreal courtroom.

• Quebecer Ismael Habib on trial for terrorism-related charge

Slowly reeled in

In an effort to make Habib comfortable enough to talk about his past and his future intentions, Parent testified, the RCMP planned a series of operations to pique his curiousity about the Boss and the Boss's apparent organization.

The Boss was portrayed as the leader of a shady organization which had the ability to print fake passports and smuggle people out of Canada.

The first scenario was straightforward: Members of the fake organization moved some appliances out of an apartment where Habib was staying, while Habib watched.

Grew closer via agent 'Lyes'

Habib was already friendly with another undercover agent who went by the name "Lyes," so Parent said he arranged the scenarios so the Boss's organization would startworking with Lyes.

In one of the scenarios, Parent testified, Lyes and Habib waited in a parking lot in an Anjou shopping centrewhen one of the Boss's associates came up and gave Lyes a BlackBerry cell phonein an envelope.

In another, Habib was in Lyes'store a clothing shop on Jean-Talon Street when one of the Boss's associates dropped off a package in an box. The associate, also an undercover agent, was explicitly told to give the package to Habib.

At that point, RCMP believed Habib wanted a passport. Parent said the purpose of thescenario was to make Habib wonder what was inside that box.

By late 2015, Habib asked Lyes if he could be put in touch with the Boss. As the court has heard in earlier testimony from that agent, that relationship would lead within weeks to a videotaped confession.

• Ismael Habib confesses to whipping Syrian prisoner, supporting ISIS in Mr. Big sting

Mr. Big or not?

Quebec Court Judge Serge Dlisle will have to rule whether the technique the RCMP used to interrogate Habib was, in fact, a Mr. Big-style operation and whether Habib'swords can be used against him in determining whether he is guilty.

In a Mr. Big sting, undercover officers pretend to be part a criminal organization.

An officer posing as a gang member befriends the suspect, and after being hired to do menial odd jobs, the suspect is confronted by the boss of the fictitious gang and told to either confess to a past crime or explain some incriminating evidence in the boss's possession.

That scenario holds many similarities to the way theRCMPinvestigatedHabib.During the sting, Habib confessed to wanting to go overseas and fight with ISIS.

• Ismael Habib trial: Defence questions legitimacy of Mr. Big sting confession

A 2014 Supreme Court ruling limited how Mr. Big strings can be used.

A Mr. Big confession can be found admissible only if it proves to be a critical piece of evidence that is corroborated by other evidence and if the police can show they have not abused their power in persuading the accused to confess.