Thursday, September 24, 2009

Two More Terror Plots Uncovered Around US

Najibullah Zazi was apparently the tip of an iceberg. In three separate and unrelated cases, people have been taken into custody or are being sought in connection with terrorism-related charges.

The FBI arrested a Jordanian man in Dallas in connection with a plot to blow up skyscrapers there.

An Illinois man is in custody in connection with a plot to blow up the federal offices in Springfield, Illinois. The man, Michael Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested as he was placing a call to a cellphone connected to what he believed was a bomb.
Michael Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested in Springfield, Illinois, and charged with attempted murder of federal officers or employees and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, charges that carry a life sentence.

"Fortunately, a coordinated undercover law enforcement effort was able to thwart his efforts and ensure no one was harmed," David Kris, assistant Attorney General for National Security, said in a statement.

Finton was arrested on Wednesday in Springfield as he used a cell phone to try to detonate the bomb he believed was inside a van he had just parked outside the federal building.

Appearing in a courtroom on Thursday in the same building he is accused of targeting, Finton waived his right to a detention hearing.
At the same time, two men charged with plotting attacks overseas who were arrested last month have had additional charges added; plotting attacks against the US Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia.
The two were among seven suspects arrested in August for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and for conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure people overseas.

A new indictment unveiled on Thursday charged Daniel Patrick Boyd, the group's alleged ringleader, and Hysen Sherifi "with conspiring to murder U.S. military personnel" in connection with the planned assault on the Marine Corps base, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh said in a statement.

It offered no details, except to say that Boyd had undertaken reconnaissance of Quantico and obtained maps of the base in order to plan the attack.

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