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View Full Version : Attack on U.S. Financial Centers Foiled; 3 Charged



Jolie Rouge
04-12-2005, 06:38 PM
Three Indicted on Terror Charges in U.S.
By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three men have been indicted on charges they targeted for attack financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

The three men, whom authorities have not yet identified, already are in custody in England. They had been picked up there last year in a separate investigation that yielded evidence they scouted the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, said two officials who discussed the case at this sensitive juncture only on grounds they not be publicly identified. The indictments are under court seal, they noted.

An announcement was expected later Tuesday, at the time the indictments are to be unsealed.

Last August the government raised the risk of a terrorist attack to ``high'' for those specific financial institutions. The color-coded threat level for the rest of the nation remained at yellow, or elevated, the middle of a five-point scale.


Federal authorities, who acknowledged the threat was based mainly on years-old intelligence, said the decision to raise the threat level was based on an abundance of caution and because of the lengthy planning and plotting record of the terrorist network known as al-Qaida.


The threat level was lowered to yellow for the buildings in November.


British authorities last year arrested eight men who were accused of planning attacks in England. In the course of that investigation, authorities said they found evidence that three suspects also had taken part in planning for attacks in the United States.


Dhiran Barot, 32, was charged there with possessing reconnaissance plans for the U.S. institutions and notebooks containing information on explosives, poisons, chemicals and related matters ``of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.''


U.S. officials claim that Barot is a senior al-Qaida figure, known variously as Abu Eisa al-Hindi, Abu Musa al-Hindi and Issa al-Britani, who scouted prominent financial targets in the United States at the behest of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.


Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26, was charged at that time, along with Barot, with possessing plans of the Prudential building. Qaisar Shaffi, 25, also was charged at the time with possessing an extract from the ``Terrorist's Handbook'' on the preparation of chemicals, explosive recipes and other information.



04/12/05 11:05

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