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Grand Jury Charges Three in WMD Plot
A federal grand jury has indicted three men in connection with a suspected plot to use unconventional weapons against financial sites in New York, New Jersey and Washington, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 11, 2004). Dhiren Barot, Nadeem Tarmohammed, and Qaisar Shaffi studied the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington from summer 2000 through April 2001, according to court documents. The men are believed to have been planning for an attack through August, when British authorities arrested them and five other suspects connected to the case, the Times reported. “This conspiracy was alive and kicking up until August of 2004,” Deputy Attorney General James Comey said yesterday in a statement. “The conspiracy laid out in the indictment was designed to kill as many Americans as possible, and the alleged surveillance of these buildings makes these allegations all the more serious,” he said. The terrorist threat led to a heightened alert level and increased security in the three areas. The suspects are each charged with conspiracy to use unconventional weapons in the United States and providing material support to terrorists. They face life in prison if convicted. The three men are also awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges in the United Kingdom. U.S. officials said they would seek the suspects’ extradition from the United Kingdom — which British officials said they would not consider until their trial was over (Johnston/Lichtblau, New York Times, April 13).
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