The FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man Friday after a lengthy investigation into an alleged plot to carry out a suicide attack on the Capitol.
In a cryptic news release, the Capitol Police said the person was arrested ?in the area of the U.S. Capitol? but that ?at no time was the public or congressional community in any danger.?
(Mark Wilson/Getty Images) - The FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man Friday after a lengthy investigation into an alleged plot to carry out a suicide attack on the Capitol.
Learn about breaking news first
Want to get the latest updates on crime, weather or general breaking news? Text "ALERTS"�to�98999.
You can get e-mail alerts on news of all types: crime, weather, traffic, politics and more.
Keep up with the conversations happening around the region and read the latest from Post reporters.
The statement said the arrest ?was the culmination of a lengthy and extensive operation during which the individual was closely and carefully monitored.?
The statement provided no other details, but a U.S. official said a Moroccan man in his 30s was picked up near the Labor Department on his way to the Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack. He was carrying with him a vest that he believed was packed with explosives but that actually contained harmless material, officials said.
The man thought he was being assisted by members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but they were really undercover FBI agents, officials said.
?We can confirm that there has been an arrest of a suspect in Washington, D.C., in connection with a terrorism investigation,? said Peter Carr, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride in Virginia, where the investigation is centered.
?The arrest was the culmination of an undercover operation during which the suspect was closely monitored by law enforcement,? Carr said in a statement. ?Explosives the suspect allegedly sought to use in connection with the plot had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement and posed no threat to the public. �Additional information will be forthcoming at the appropriate time.?
The FBI issued a similar statement. One FBI source said agents had been working the investigation for several months and confirmed that the target was the U.S. Capitol.
The Moroccan man entered the United States with a family member, and at some point, he came to the attention of the FBI, said a law enforcement official.
Undercover FBI agents gave the man inoperable explosives and a gun, and he was followed Friday into the District, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The man was arrested in a parking lot near the Labor Department, which is just a few blocks from the Capitol, according to the official.
Fox News, which first reported the man?s alleged intention to carry out a suicide mission against the Capitol, said the investigation began after he expressed interest in conducting an attack but that it was unclear how the FBI learned of his aspirations.
Shortly before the alleged mission, the man had been praying at a mosque in the Washington area, Fox News reported.
In the past year, federal agents have arrested at least 20 people in the United States on terrorism-related charges, the Senate Intelligence Committee has said.
In September, FBI agents posing as al-Qaeda associates helped arrest a Massachusetts man of Bangladeshi descent, Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, for allegedly plotting to fly explosives-packed model planes into the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol.
In October 2010, Farooque Ahmed, a Pakistani American from Ashburn, Va., was arrested for an alleged plot to bomb Washington-area Metro stations. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in April 2011 to 23 years in prison.
Staff writer Sari Horwitz contributed to this report.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=ce1bc0094daf9492d4263474bbbb3e83
abc world news with diane sawyer abc world news with diane sawyer 2011 abc world news with diane sawyer video abc world news with donnie mcclurkin ally asl on world news with diane sawyer
No comments:
Post a Comment