Farooque Ahmed Arrested DCTerrorist Attack, Farooque Ahmed, Farooque Ahmed arrested, Farooque Ahmed Terrorist
Farooque Ahmed Arrested DCTerrorist Attack, Farooque Ahmed: A Virginia man of Pakistani origin was arrested Wednesday and charged with the envelope in the metro Washington area that he thought was a plot by Al Qaeda to bomb and kill commuters.
The bombing plot was a ruse carried out over the last six months, the FBI said, but 34 years Farooque Ahmed easily delivered video northern Metro stations in Virginia, suggested the use of rolling suitcases rather than bags back to kill as many people as possible and offered to give money because of Al Qaeda overseas.
The public was never in danger because FBI agents were aware of the activities of Ahmed and he followed through, the agency said. And people who thought Ahmed al-Qaida were actually people who worked for the government, according to a senior federal law enforcement who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the case.
Ahmed was indicted under seal by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., Tuesday, and the charges were made public Wednesday. He is accused of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, collecting information to help plan a terrorist attack against a transit center, and attempting to provide material support to carry out attacks to cause multiple losses massive. Ahmed, a naturalized citizen, lives in Ashburn, Virginia, near Washington.
During a brief court appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Ahmed did not enter a plea and was ordered held without bail. He told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Anderson, he could not afford to hire a lawyer. Prosecutors said they planned to use classified information as evidence in the case.
U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement it was "a cold man is accused of Ashburn envelope railway stations in order to kill as many Metro riders as many as possible through simultaneous attacks."
Ahmed arrest comes as the U.S. has been struggling with a slight increase in Americans prepare for terrorist attacks over the past 18 months.
Last week, a man from Hawaii has been arrested and charged with making false statements to the FBI about his plans for terrorist training in Pakistan. In August, a man was caught in Virginia leave the country to fight with a group of al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia. And in May, Shazhad Faisal, also a naturalized citizen from Pakistan, tried to detonate a car bomb at a busy street corner in New York. U.S. authorities had no intelligence about the plot Shahzad until the car turned on smoking in Manhattan.
The FBI had several cases with the undercover agents working: Last year, authorities arrested a Jordanian citizen, after attempting to blow up what he thought was a bomb outside a skyscraper in Dallas. In another case, authorities in Springfield, Ill., arrested a man after he tried to blow up what he thought of explosives in a truck outside a federal court. In both cases, the devices were provided to lure men by FBI agents posing as agents of Al Qaeda.
Federal investigators said that from April, Ahmed met several times with people he believed agents of Al Qaeda. During one of these meetings, investigators said, he agreed to follow and photograph a hotel in Washington and a metro station in Arlington, Va. He was also accused of videotaping a station Arlington subway four times, and agreeing to obtain security information about the two stations.
According to the indictment:
Caught the video _Ahmed four subway stations northern Virginia - Arlington Cemetery, Courthouse, Pentagon City and Crystal City, which is near the Pentagon - and safety supervision in a hotel in the District of Columbia. In a series of meetings in hotels in Northern Virginia, Ahmed provided the videos to someone he believed to be part of a terrorist organization and said he wanted to donate $ 10,000 to help fight abroad and collect donations in a way that would not raise red flags.
_In September 28 meeting at a hotel in Herndon, Virginia, Ahmed has also suggested that operators use terror rolling luggage to blow up the subway instead of backpacks. During that same meeting Ahmed said he wanted to kill as many military personnel as possible and suggested an additional attack on a Crystal City Metro station.
The indictment alleges he also provided diagrams of the subway stations Arlington and gave suggestions on where to place explosives on trains to kill more people in simultaneous attacks planned for 2011 .
At the White House, Robert Gibbs said Barack Obama was aware of the investigation before Ahmed was arrested. Gibbs has also given assurances that the public was never in danger.
In a statement, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said the case "demonstrates how the government can neutralize threats before they materialize."
"Farooque Ahmed is accused of conspiring with individuals he thought were terrorists bomb our transit system, but a coordinated law enforcement and intelligence efforts was able to thwart his plans , "said Kris.
There is no indication Ahmed was linked to larger terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, according to an official U.S. terrorism-cons, who requested anonymity to discuss a matter of intelligence.
Nevertheless, the arrest came as unsettling news for some commuters in the Washington area.
"When I look around, I think of how vulnerable we are," said 45-year-old McCarthy Council, who lives near the Pentagon City Metro station. "I'll just stay out of the subway system at the moment ".
Mary Brereton, 55, a personal trainer who lives in nearby Alexandria, Va., said she is concerned for the safety of subway trains, after a fatal accident last year about a terrorist attack.
"Who was it who said:" If we live in fear every day, then 9 / 11 was a success? "She said." You can not. "
Andrew Ames, spokesman for the FBI office in Washington on the ground, refused to comment on how authorities learned Ahmed. The Washington Post quoted an anonymous administration official said Ahmed had drawn the attention of the enforcement of law in seeking to obtain materials not specified.
Ahmed faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
LinkedIn page that was created for Farooque Ahmed identifies it as a network planning engineer and a Bachelor in Computer City College of New York in 2003, during the same period as other records showed he had lived in New York. Profile Ahmed listed as network planning engineer for Ericsson and said he has already worked with Verizon and Sprint.
In Reston, Virginia, Ericsson Federal Inc., released a statement confirming that Ahmed had worked on contract for the company, which has pledged cooperation with the federal investigation.
A criminal record check for code violations Ahmed found several in Virginia, including speeding.
Agents with the FBI, the Virginia State Police and the Sheriff's Office Loudoun County left the brick townhouse where Ahmed lives Wednesday afternoon. We took a picture of the entrance, and one with a plastic bag containing examination gloves used.
In some ways, Ahmed and his family seemed like thousands of other commuters.
Ahmed's wife, Sahar, joined the Muslim Hip Moms, a support group for women with children under 5 years old, and his young son to play dates with other mothers, said group organizer Esraa Bani. She had moved into the area and was looking for a group of mothers when she joined. She was very quiet and kept to it.
Next door neighbor Marc Otterbac described the family as "very reclusive", but said he talked with Ahmed and his wife occasionally. He once recalled the comments of a dinner they were cooking smelled good and the family brought him a little saffron rice and chicken.
Petney Margaret, who lives on the same block as Ahmed in Ashburn, said Ahmed was installed in about a year and a half with his wife and young child, and wore traditional Muslim clothing.
"They do not seem too friendly with everyone," said Petney. "You never know who lives around you."