Five Arab residents in the United States have been brought before American grand juries on charges that they are members of the al-Qaeda network, and that they intended to carry out terror activities inside the USA.
Three of the accused were arrested nearly a year ago when police raided an apartment in Detroit. Police were looking for a different man at the address, but arrested Karim Koubriti, age 23, from Morocco; Ahmed Hannan, age 34, also from Morocco; and Farouk Ali-Haimoud, age 21 from Algeria.
Although they were originally charged with passport violations, the men arrested in Detroit have now been accused of acting as "a covert underground support unit" and a "sleeper operational combat cell" for a radical Islamic movement allied with al-Qaida. They were charged with conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists.
A fourth man charged in the Detorit case is Youssef Hmimssa, who was arrested in October 2001. American authorities also charged a fifth man, named only as “Abdella”, who is not under arrest and is being searched for by the police.
American authorities accused the five men of membership in an Islamic extremist movement known as Salafiyya, part of the al-Qaeda network, and said they had been preparing terrorist attacks inside the USA, in Jordan and in Turkey.
The indictment claimed "Their planning involved specific violent attacks, including ones that targeted an American air base in Incerlik, Turkey, and a hospital in Amman, Jordan," and based this on dates and notes found in a calendar the men had with them when they were arrested last year.
The indictment also said the men had gathered information on potential terror targets inside the USA. Some of the accused had been working in Detroit’s airport, and authorities claim they used this access to check on airport security. A videotape that was taken in the raid on the Detroit apartment showed important tourist destination including Disneyland in California and the MGM Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The American authorities claimed this as evidence that the Arabs were planning terror attacks on these targets.
Another Man Charged in Seattle
In a separate case in Seattle, American citizen and Muslim activist James Ujaama was accused of trying to set up a "Jihad training camp" on the West Coast of the USA, and providing support and resources to al-Qaeda.
The indictment that accused him 36 year old Ujaama conspiracy to provide material support and resources for al-Qaeda and with using, carrying, possessing, and discharging firearms during a crime. Charles Mandigo, the FBI special agent in charge in the case, told Fox News "The material support for terrorism has to be regarded as serious as terrorism itself."
Ujaama, age 36, surrendered to American authorities late last month after he had been declared a wanted man. The indictment also accused him of leading discussions about creating poison to use on the public and firebombing vehicles. Sources said that officials found documents about water poisoning among several other terrorism-related documents in his Denver residence.
James Ujaama's brother is Mustafa Ujaama, the founder of the now-closed Dar-us-Salaam mosque in Seattle. The FBI believes that officials and members of the mosque were trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon. The purpose of this camp was supposedly to prepare al-Qaeda recruits for the more difficult training they would encounter later in Afghanistan. (www.albawaba.com)
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