His attorney said Friday that Talal "Ted" Ali Chammout is a U.S. citizen who loves America, adores his children and is a respectable mini-mart owner in Porterville.
But federal prosecutor Carl Faller said Chammout, 47, wanted to purchase missiles and rocket launchers and other weaponry to send to terrorists in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.
Excerpted
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/19138.html
Bomb scare at Fort Wayne International Airport causes evacuation
Mon, Dec. 18,2006
A hand-written note inside a magazine onboard a Chautauqua Airlines commuter plane forced the evacuation of about 25 passengers and three crew members at Fort Wayne International Airport Monday evening. Chautauqua Airlines is operated by Delta.
Fort Wayne police, using a bomb-sniffing dog and a robot, searched the aircraft, but no bomb was found on board the plane, said Fort Wayne police deputy chief Marty Bender.
According to Bender, the plane was preparing to take off about 3:50 p.m. when a passenger found a magazine in which someone had written that a bomb was on board. Airport officials and police referred additional questions to the FBI.
“These types of incidents have occurred many times since 9/11, and we’d rather err on the side of caution,” Wendy Osborne, FBI special agent, said. Additional information related to this story will appear in Tuesday’s edition of The Journal Gazette
PARIS: A French man arrested by Egyptian officials as a terror suspect — one of a dozen Westerners accused of plotting attacks — was detained Sunday after being expelled from Egypt, judicial officials said.
A preliminary investigation for "criminal association in relation with a terrorist enterprise" — a sweeping charge often used in terror cases in France — was opened in connection with the suspect, the officials said. The suspect's identity was not made public, and the officials themselves, not authorized to discuss the case, spoke on condition they not be named.
The man, expelled from Egypt earlier Sunday, can be held for up to four days before French authorities decide whether they have enough evidence to pursue a case.
Eight other French citizens were expelled by Egypt earlier this month along with two Belgians. The French were all set free a week ago. The ninth Frenchman remained in Egyptian custody, along with the American and an unknown number of Egyptians and Arabs from other countries.
They all were arrested in November by Egyptian authorities for allegedly belonging to an Islamist terror cell plotting attacks.
Excerpted
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/17/europe/EU_GEN_France_Egypt_Terror_Suspect.php
Gee, I wish he wouldn't "love America" quite this much:
The following September, Faller said Chammout asked to buy rocket launchers from the witness, and the next month he wanted anti-tank weapons. In February of this year, Faller said, Chammout wanted anti-aircraft missiles and told the witness that if word leaked out, he would be dead.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/17/america/NA_GEN_US_Terror_Plot.php