Boston Area Terror Suspect Arrested Somalia Connection

[AbdiWahab252]

Al Shabab accepted one reject, Donaldo while the Taliban turned the other one away


(CNN) -- A Massachusetts man charged Wednesday with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists abroad distributed a video that he said showed the "mutilation and abuse" of the bodies of U.S. personnel in Iraq, an FBI agent says.
Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, could face 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, could face 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The video file was stored on a computer authorities took from the bedroom of Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, said Heidi Williams, an FBI special agent in Boston.

Mehanna sent the video to associates, explaining that it showed the aftermath of retaliation against U.S. personnel after a report of a rape committed by a serviceman, Williams said in an affidavit supporting three search warrants.

"The computer revealed that Mehanna and others reveled in the death of United States servicemen overseas," she said.

Mehanna faces one count of conspiracy, the acting U.S. attorney for Massachusetts said Wednesday at a news conference. Video Watch a CNN report about Mehanna »

Michael K. Loucks said Mehanna, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, traveled overseas, sought training from the Taliban, wanted to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq and hoped to kill one or two members of the executive branch of the U.S. government.

He did not name those potentially threatened, but said they never were in danger.

Mehanna appeared in court Wednesday to hear the charge against him. CNN was unable to reach his attorney, J.W. Carney Jr.
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The suspect and his alleged co-conspirators had discussed an attack on at least one U.S. mall, Loucks said. However, that assault never occurred and is not included in the conspiracy charge, said Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman.

The idea stalled, Loucks said, after Mehanna and the others were unable to get automatic weapons.

The complaint affidavit alleges that Mehanna and co-conspirators sought to participate in "violent jihad against American interests and ... would talk about fighting jihad and their desire to die on the battlefield." It adds that "the co-conspirators attempted to radicalize others and inspire each other by, among other things, watching and distributing jihadi videos."

Included in the videos Mehanna obtained and watched were shots of U.S. soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, in addition to the mutilation scenes, Loucks said.

Mehanna was arrested a year ago after being accused of lying to FBI agents in a terror investigation, but the latest charges are more serious, Loucks said.

Williams' affidavit said Mehanna had two co-conspirators, including Ahmad Abousamra. The identity of the third man wasn't provided.

The three planned trips overseas in an effort to join training camps and kill American soldiers, Loucks said. Mehanna and others traveled to Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen and sought training from groups including the Taliban, he said.

A federal complaint alleges that the conspiracy began in or about 2001 and lasted until about May 2008.

During that time, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Mehanna and the others allegedly conspired to provide material support and resources to carry out "a conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country, and extraterritorial homicide of a U.S. national."

One of their plans was to attack at least one U.S. shopping mall in a random shooting spree, but that did not happen because they couldn't obtain the assault weapons they wanted, Loucks said. He didn't name the mall.

Loucks said the logistics involved assaulting multiple entrances of the mall. They also had determined the steps they would take when first responders arrived, he said.

In an effort to get automatic weapons, one of Mehanna's co-conspirators approached Daniel Maldonado, a convert to Islam who was said to have contacts with gang members, according to the criminal complaint.

The co-conspirator traveled to New Hampshire to meet with Maldonado, who said he had access only to handguns. The alleged mall plan was subsequently abandoned, Loucks said.

Mehanna was indicted in January, charged with making false statements to a joint terrorism task force regarding Maldonado, who was captured by Kenyan troops while fighting with al Qaeda in Somalia.

Maldonado is serving a 10-year sentence after his guilty plea to a charge of receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, al Qaeda.

The men used code names to describe their activities, Williams said. In late 2006, Maldonado called Mehanna from Somalia and said he was participating in a "culinary school" and making "peanut butter and jelly."

"Culinary school" meant Maldonado was receiving jihad training, and "peanut butter and jelly" referred to jihad, Williams said.

If convicted of the material support charge, Mehanna would face up to 15 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
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"I think we're satisfied that we know every member of this group," Loucks said. "We do not believe that there are any terrorist cells in this area."

Mehanna was arrested in November 2008 as he was about to board a flight at Logan International Airport in Boston, Loucks said.

[AbdiWahab252]

The affidavit says Abousamra traveled to Pakistan twice in 2002 and 2003 trying to find a jihadist training camp that would take him, but the Lashkar e Tayyiba group would not accept him because he was Arab and the Taliban camp rejected him because of a “lack of experience.’’

FBI calls Sudbury suspect inept but serious terror plotter

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | October 22, 2009

They allegedly tried to get into terrorist training camps overseas, but could not find one that would take them. They plotted to shoot shoppers and emergency responders at a suburban mall, but scrapped the plan because they could not get their hands on automatic weapons, according to the FBI.

Yet, even though Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury and his friend, Ahmad Abousamra, who allegedly was rejected by the Taliban because of a lack of experience, were portrayed as hapless would-be terrorists in an FBI affidavit unsealed yesterday, federal authorities allege their intentions were deadly serious.

Early yesterday, Mehanna, who was free on bail since his January indictment on a charge of lying to authorities conducting a terrorism investigation, was arrested at his parents’ home on Fairhaven Circle on a new and more serious charge of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Abousamra, who fled Boston for Syria nearly three years ago, was not charged yesterday.

“We don’t want to wait for somebody to become a terrorist before we stop them,’’ Warren T. Bamford, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said by phone yesterday. “We don’t want them to blow something up and kill somebody, because our whole mission is to prevent.’’

He said that anyone who would travel to Yemen, as Mehanna allegedly did in 2004 in search of a terrorist camp that would train him, was a significant concern and had to be taken seriously.

Acting US Attorney Michael K. Loucks said at a press conference that authorities brought the new charge after conducting a lengthy investigation.

“We’re satisfied that we know every member of this group’’ involved in the alleged terrorist plot, Loucks said.

A 55-page affidavit unsealed yesterday alleges that Mehanna, an Internet blogger accused of promoting jihad online, conspired between 2001 and May 2008 with Abousamra and an unnamed cooperating witness to attack a mall, assassinate two members of the US government’s executive branch, and attack US soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a statement to reporters outside the federal courthouse yesterday, Boston lawyer J.W. Carney, who represents Mehanna, said: “This is the type of case that challenges our commitment and faith in the United States Constitution. Our country is respected around the world because we presume that people charged with a crime are innocent and we require the government to prove its allegations in open court. I’m confident that the American people will put aside their fears and instead rely on the fairness guaranteed by our Constitution. Mr. Mehanna is entitled to that.’’ He declined to comment further.

Mehanna’s mother, Souad, emerged from the home yesterday and just before leaving in a limousine, said that Mehanna “is a very good guy; he’s innocent.’’

Last November, Mehanna was arrested on a charge that he lied to the FBI in December 2006 when questioned about the whereabouts and activities of Daniel J. Maldonado, a former Methuen resident who was suspected of training at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp to overthrow the Somali government. Mehanna was indicted on the charge two months later, but no trial date had been set.

Maldonado, who is serving 10 years in prison after pleading guilty two years ago in Houston to receiving training at a terrorist camp in Somalia, is cooperating against Mehanna, according to the affidavit unsealed yesterday in Boston.

The affidavit says Abousamra traveled to Pakistan twice in 2002 and 2003 trying to find a jihadist training camp that would take him, but the Lashkar e Tayyiba group would not accept him because he was Arab and the Taliban camp rejected him because of a “lack of experience.’’

Later, Mehanna, Abousamra, and an unnamed cooperating witness allegedly talked about attacks on US soil, including assassinating the two executive branch members, who were not identified by officials, and a mall shooting.

Loucks would not disclose whether a particular mall had been targeted or how far the alleged plot had progressed. The affidavit made no mention of a specific target.

The acting US attorney did not identify the two government officials who had allegedly been targeted, but said they are no longer in the executive branch and “neither were in any danger at any time from Mehanna or his coconspirators.’’

In 2003, Mehanna, Abousamra, and the cooperating witness, inspired by the panic caused by snipers who randomly executed people in the Washington, D.C., area the previous year, “discussed a plan to obtain automatic weapons, go to a shopping mall, and randomly shoot people,’’ the affidavit says.

The cooperating witness met with Maldonado in New Hampshire and asked him to use his gang contacts to get automatic weapons, but Maldonado said he could only get handguns, the affidavit says.

“Because of the logistical problems of executing the operation with just handguns, the plan was abandoned,’’ the affidavit says.

The cooperating witness told investigators that he, Mehanna, and Abousamra wanted to kill US soldiers and others abroad, prompting Mehanna and Abousamra to go to Yemen in 2004 to try to join a terrorist training camp.

The witness said Mehanna later told him that the Yemen trip was a failure because they could not find training camps and everyone involved was in jail or had gone underground, the affidavit says.

In December 2006, Abousamra fled to Syria after being questioned in Boston by the Joint Terrorism Task Force about terrorist activities, the affidavit said.

During a secretly recorded conversation with Mehanna in January 2007, the cooperating witness expressed reservations about what they had done, and Mehanna said “they were hasty and immature, but not wrong,’’ the affidavit says.

Mehanna said he did not regret his trip to Yemen, which “was the best two weeks of his life,’’ the affidavit says.

An FBI analysis of Mehanna’s computer, seized in 2006, found Mehanna “glorified’’ the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and berated the victims as “sinners,’’ according to the affidavit. The computer contained photographs of Mehanna and others at ground zero, the former site of the World Trade Center towers in New York, “with large grins and Mehanna has one finger pointed up in the air,’’ the affidavit says.

Mehanna’s computer also revealed that he had downloaded numerous pro-jihad videos, as well as a video of the mutilation of the remains of US personnel in Iraq, the affidavit says.

Mehanna, who was born in Pittsburgh and is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, reacted angrily yesterday when US Magistrate Judge Leo T. Sorokin asked him to stand up while he explained his rights during a hearing at the federal courthouse in Boston.

“I prefer not to,’’ said Mehanna, dressed in black sweat pants, and a black hooded-sweat shirt.

“Fine,’’ Sorokin said.

Mehanna’s father, Ahmed, who was seated in the spectators’ section, shouted to his son, “Stand up!’’

Mehanna jumped to his feet, forcing the heavy wooden chair he had been seated in to crash loudly to the floor. Within minutes, four deputy US marshals rushed into the room to provide additional security.

After prosecutors argued that Mehanna should be jailed until trial, Sorokin ordered Mehanna held without bail until a hearing Oct. 30.

Bamford said the FBI has no information about terrorist cells operating in New England.

But he added, “The home grown terrorists, those individuals who have become radicalized by looking at the Internet . . . are of great concern because those people often fly below the radar.’’

[rabanam]

“lack of experience.’’

The recession is affecting even Islamists.

[AbdiWahab252]

Arab,

Its a "mental recession" too.

[Xamud.]

These fukkers are really pushing it, as if things were bad enough


A/W get ready too be strip searched everywhere time you want too travel

[AbdiWahab252]

Xamud,

Thank goodness for my Hutu name

[Xamud.]

Xamud,

Thank goodness for my Hutu name

And your hutu looks

On a serious note dude this is getting out of hands, as if that see through scanner they invented werent bad enough

[AbdiWahab252]

Xamud,

Thank goodness for my Hutu name

And your hutu looks

On a serious note dude this is getting out of hands, as if that see through scanner they invented werent bad enough

Xamud,

Yep, throw in that too. With these pyschos, you can keep your Arabness I am proud African Hutu

[SahanGalbeed]

One of the reason I have joined these people's {hawiye}cause and sport nowadays the blue Somali flag instead of my native somaliLAND one , is because of their utter INCAPIBILITY in getting a viable message across.

[AbdiWahab252]

Sahan,

What message ? I would suggest you try to stop the network emanating from the Burco area that supplies Al Shabab with manpower, money and other necessities instead of taking the current Somaliland approach on Shabab:





Riyaale, Si.ilanyo, and Waraabe.

[SahanGalbeed]

It is people like you that give Al Shabaab a "raison d'etre", and I think it's people like you that also send shity articles edited in Kenya through the wires --> "Al Shabaab asking women to shake their boobs .. to remove their bras " and all kind of filth of that sort.

It is just frustrating to be refereeing 2 opposite cursed entities

[AbdiWahab252]

Sahan,

I hate Shabab but you can't knock them on their cunning behavior when it comes to separating their enemies and picking them off one by one.