Man arrested in Houston plot to sell bomb to terrorists
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3194338
A Pennsylvania man is in a Houston federal court this afternoon, accused of agreeing to build a bomb and sell it to a terrorist organization, according to court documents.
A criminal complaint accuses Ronald Allen Grecula, 68, of Bangor, Pa., of expressing his willingness to build a bomb to be used against U.S. citizens for a group he believed was affiliated with al-Qaida.
Prosecutors say in court documents that Grecula began negotiating with a confidential source in April. On May 11, an informant recorded telephone conversations about Grecula's willingness to build a bomb, investigators say.
An affidavit by FBI Agent Lisa R. Baldwin states that the confidential source had met Grecula in prison in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. ~snip~
More details in this article:
Man accused of trying to sell bomb to terrorists
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/052305_APlocal_terroralert.html
(snip)
Grecula told the source he could buy all the components for the bomb at a welding store. He was educated as a mechanical engineer and experiments with alternative fuels and energy, according to the criminal complaint.
During the Friday meeting in Houston with the confidential source and an undercover officer who presented himself as an al-Qaida agent, Grecula said he would be willing to build the bomb in exchange for custody of his two children.
Grecula had previously been arrested in Malta for parental kidnapping. He was imprisoned in Pennsylvania before being released in March 2003.
At one point in the meeting about building the bomb, Grecula compared himself to Spartacus, according to the criminal complaint.
"He formed an army and he fought against Rome. He was tortured in prison, he was beat up, took his family, killed his friends, etc.," Grecula said during the meeting videotaped by authorities. "So, you could say in a way I am like a Spartacus. ... So, that's it, I have no loyalty to America."
The undercover FBI agent pretending to be an al-Qaida operative asked Grecula if he had a problem with his terrorist group killing "a bunch of Americans."
"I can stand it," Grecula replied.