Senior U.S. officials have said that Jose Padilla, recently arrested for planning to build and detonate a “dirty bomb” within the United States, originally had planned to build a full nuclear weapon, Time  magazine reported yesterday (see GSN, June 13).

Padilla had found information on the Internet on how to build a nuclear weapon, “an H-bomb,” as one official said.  The instructions were almost useless, but Padilla still brought them to the attention of senior al-Qaeda leaders.  Abu Zubaydah, a top al-Qaeda official, suggested that Padilla attempt a smaller plan — the dirty bomb plot, Time reported. 

“He [Padilla] was trying to build something that would attain a nuclear yield,” a senior Bush administration official said (Amanda Ripley, Time, June 16).

Friend Arrested

Meanwhile, U.S. authorities arrested Adham Amin Hassoun on immigration charges after officials discovered that he and Padilla are friends, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Hassoun was arrested Wednesday and is being held in a detention center in Miami, Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Rodney Germain said.  Hassoun was arrested on charges of overstaying his visa, the Miami Herald reported.

Authorities might use Hassoun’s arrest to obtain more information on how Padilla became involved with radical Islam, the Tribune reported.

“We have suspicions; that’s it,” a source for the Herald said.  “We have reason to believe this man has extremist views.  They were friends and they attended the same Ft. Lauderdale mosque” (Chicago Tribune, June 16).

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