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Islam convert gets 35 years in plot to attack mall The Associated Press - 30 Sep 2008 CHICAGO (AP) — A 24-year-old convert to Islam has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for plotting to set off hand grenades in a crowded shopping mall ... Man gets 35 years in '06 terror plot Chicago Tribune

A 24-year-old convert to Islam has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for plotting to blow off hand grenades in a crowded shopping mall during the Christmas season. Federal Judge David Coar said Tuesday he didn't believe Shareef was evil. But he said people could have been severely hurt if federal agents hadn't broken up the plot.

March 7, 2007 — A former U.S. Navy sailor has been charged with allegedly passing military secrets about U.S. Navy movements through waters in the Middle East to al Qaeda-related Web sites during the spring of 2001, just months after the USS Cole was attacked in Yemen. Hassan Abujihaad, formerly known as Paul R. Hall, allegedly passed information about U.S. Navy warship movements in the Straits of Hormuz in April 2001 while he was a member of the Navy. The information passed along contained details about vulnerabilites of U.S. vessels — including susceptibility to small boat attacks by terrorists. Abujihaad...

There has been suprisingly little reportage of the actual details of would-be shopping mall terrorist, Mr. Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef's mindset and intentions. So as a public service, here the FBI agent's affidavit (pdf file) in easy to read format. Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef STATE OF ILLINOIS)) COUNTY OF COOK)AFFIDAVIT1. I, Jared Ruddy, Federal Bureau of Investigation, being duly sworn, state as follows: I am a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and have been so employed for more than two years. I am currently assigned to an FBI Counterterrorism squad as well as the...

CHICAGO - The man accused of plotting to carry out a holiday grenade attack on shoppers at a Rockford mall was a Muslim convert whose growing interest in radical views worried his mother, according to a published report. "I don't believe that my son purposely has done anything wrong," Marie Dunn told the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald. "I believe he has gotten involved with the wrong people. ... I don't know who he's running with." Dunn said she wasn't surprised when her 22-year-old son, Derrick Shareef, converted seven years ago, because his father was a member of the Nation of...

CHICAGO (AP) - A man was arrested Friday by federal agents on charges of planning to set off hand grenades in garbage cans at a shopping mall. Derrick Shareef, 22, of Rockford, was arrested when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a handgun. Federal officials said he planned to set off four hand grenades in garbage cans at the CherryVale shopping mall in Rockford, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago. He was charged with one count of attempting to damage or destroy a building...

<p>Dec. 8, 2006 — ABC News has learned a Chicago-area man has been charged with plotting a terrorist attack.</p> <p>Sources say the man is accused of planning to use firearms and explosives to attack a specific mall in Rockford, Ill. The alleged plan was to target this mall during the holiday shopping season.</p>