Posted on 12/19/2003 1:28:34 PM PST by TexKat
AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan's military prosecutor has charged three Iraqis with plotting terror attacks against American and Israeli targets in the kingdom with rockets and hand grenades, government officials said Friday.
The Iraqis — two in Jordanian police custody and one at large — will be tried in the military State Security Court soon, the officials said in announcing that the alleged plot was uncovered and foiled in October.
The indictment against the men did not say what exactly the men intended to target. The men were arrested Oct. 12, when their vehicle — with the weapons concealed in it — was stopped at a police roadblock on a highway just west of Amman.
No date has yet been set for the trial, the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The three were identified as Ahmed Mohammed Ali Ayed, 26, Lawrence Hamid Rashid Muhanna, 28, and Muhanna's fugitive brother, Muawiyah.
They were charged with four crimes, including importing, transporting and possessing pistols, automatic rifles and silencers, hand grenades and rockets with the intent of using them illegally and "conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks" in Jordan — offenses punishable by death.
According to the indictment, Lawrence Muhanna was the mastermind and the man who purchased the weapons from Iraq. It said he had been in contact with a Jordanian man, identified as Abu-Ali, who agreed to the plan of carrying out "military operations against Israeli and American interests on Jordanian land."
On Oct. 9, Muhanna arrived in Jordan, where he took up residence in the southern desert city of Maan, 130 miles south of the Jordanian capital Amman, according to the indictment made available to the AP.
It said Muhanna's brother, Muawiyah, had concealed the weapons bought in Iraq and dispatched them to Amman with Ayed, a truck driver who managed to smuggle the ammunition to Jordan on Oct. 10. Ayed, who was paid $600 for the delivery, knew what it contained and was in on the conspiracy, the indictment said.
It said Muhanna then telephoned Abu-Ali and agreed to deliver the weapons to him Oct. 12, when the vehicle was stopped.
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