Homyrrh
05-21-2009, 11:31 AM
(from The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124291181419243179.html))
21 May 2009
Men Arrested in Bomb, Missile Plot Set to Be Arraigned
By EVAN PEREZ
WASHINGTON – Four men arrested and charged with plotting to bomb a Bronx synagogue and attack military planes at a New York National Guard air base are set to be arraigned Thursday.
Federal agents arrest four men in a suspected terror plot to bomb a synagogue and a Jewish community center in New York and to shoot down military planes using surface-to-air missiles. Video courtesy of Reuters.
In a criminal complaint unsealed late Wednesday night, federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District identified the men as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen. The men were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a 37-pound mock explosive device outside a temple in the Riverdale section of New York's Bronx borough.
According to an FBI agent's affidavit filed in court, government investigators used an informant to monitor the men and help steer the plot for nearly a year. Agents watched as the men conducted surveillance of a synagogue and Jewish community center in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and of the Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, N.Y., according to the affidavit.
The complaint says the FBI informant met one of the men at a mosque and that at least one of them expressed anger at the U.S. over the killing of Muslims in Afghanistan.
Investigators orchestrated a shopping trip the men took to Connecticut to obtain what they thought were a surface-to-air missile system and explosives to be used in an improvised explosive device, according to the FBI affidavit.
The men are expected to be arraigned Thursday in suburban White Plains, N.Y. It couldn't be learned late Wednesday whether the men have retained attorneys to represent them.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly met privately with congregants Thursday inside the Riverdale Temple.
"The shock and being floored was followed by relief," David Winter, executive director of the Riverdale Jewish Center, said afterward.
The arrests come as federal prosecutors in New York prepare to prosecute another major terrorism case related to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and the broader terrorism activities of al Qaeda. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, a government official familiar with the matter said prosecutors are preparing to charge Ahmed Ghailani, a Tanzanian national who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility since September 2006.
Mr. Ghailani was indicted in 1998 in the Africa bombings, but charges expected to be announced Thursday will relate to a March 2001 indictment charging him with 286 counts for the embassy bombings and for his participating in al Qaeda plots elsewhere. A White House-appointed task force has been reviewing the cases of Guantanamo detainees following an order by President Barack Obama to close the prison. The task force referred Mr. Ghailani's case to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
—The Associated Press contributed to this article.
21 May 2009
Men Arrested in Bomb, Missile Plot Set to Be Arraigned
By EVAN PEREZ
WASHINGTON – Four men arrested and charged with plotting to bomb a Bronx synagogue and attack military planes at a New York National Guard air base are set to be arraigned Thursday.
Federal agents arrest four men in a suspected terror plot to bomb a synagogue and a Jewish community center in New York and to shoot down military planes using surface-to-air missiles. Video courtesy of Reuters.
In a criminal complaint unsealed late Wednesday night, federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District identified the men as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen. The men were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a 37-pound mock explosive device outside a temple in the Riverdale section of New York's Bronx borough.
According to an FBI agent's affidavit filed in court, government investigators used an informant to monitor the men and help steer the plot for nearly a year. Agents watched as the men conducted surveillance of a synagogue and Jewish community center in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and of the Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, N.Y., according to the affidavit.
The complaint says the FBI informant met one of the men at a mosque and that at least one of them expressed anger at the U.S. over the killing of Muslims in Afghanistan.
Investigators orchestrated a shopping trip the men took to Connecticut to obtain what they thought were a surface-to-air missile system and explosives to be used in an improvised explosive device, according to the FBI affidavit.
The men are expected to be arraigned Thursday in suburban White Plains, N.Y. It couldn't be learned late Wednesday whether the men have retained attorneys to represent them.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly met privately with congregants Thursday inside the Riverdale Temple.
"The shock and being floored was followed by relief," David Winter, executive director of the Riverdale Jewish Center, said afterward.
The arrests come as federal prosecutors in New York prepare to prosecute another major terrorism case related to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and the broader terrorism activities of al Qaeda. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, a government official familiar with the matter said prosecutors are preparing to charge Ahmed Ghailani, a Tanzanian national who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility since September 2006.
Mr. Ghailani was indicted in 1998 in the Africa bombings, but charges expected to be announced Thursday will relate to a March 2001 indictment charging him with 286 counts for the embassy bombings and for his participating in al Qaeda plots elsewhere. A White House-appointed task force has been reviewing the cases of Guantanamo detainees following an order by President Barack Obama to close the prison. The task force referred Mr. Ghailani's case to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
—The Associated Press contributed to this article.