http://www.fbi.gov/page2/july10/toledo_072210.html
The Case of the Toledo Terror Cell 07/22/10 Map of Toledo, Ohio The case was opened in 2004 by our Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in our Toledo Resident Agency. In the suburbs of Toledoa bustling city on the northern border of Ohiothree men were leading seemingly normal lives. One worked at a travel agency. Another ran a car dealership with his brother. The third was a self-employed businessman with several kids. All three, howevertwo American citizens and the third a legal permanent residentwere secretly part of a homegrown terror cell conspiring to recruit and train insurgents to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq. (Also part of the celltwo Chicago cousins named in a superseding indictment who were sentenced <http://cleveland.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/cl071210.htm> earlier this month after being recruited by one of the Toledo defendants.) How did he end up in an American courtroom? Because U.S. law says that if human rights violators are U.S. nationals, commit offenses against U.S. citizens, or are present in this country, they can be charged here. In Taylors case, he was born in America, and he was arrested in 2006 while trying to enter the country illegally. <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php> share.gif What the men didnt realize was that we knew all about itthanks to a cooperating witness who helped our investigation from start to finish, and testified at trial. The case was opened in 2004 by our Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in our Toledo Resident Agency. Also pitching in were JTTFs in our Cleveland and Chicago Divisions, as well as a host of local, federal, and international partners. Our cooperating witness, who began working for us after 9/11, was actually a decorated veteran of the U.S. Armys Special Forces, specifically playing the part of an ex-soldier, only with a twisthed grown disenchanted with U.S. policies, become a radical convert to Islam, and was willing to provide training for violent jihad. For two years, during the operational phase of the investigation, our witness met with the three menMohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloumand made more than 100 secret (and fully lawful) recordings of those meetings, giving us a real-time view into the activities of the cell. At the same time, we were able to control what the trio obtained from our witnessfor example, he didnt give them actual explosives training. Because of his military expertise, our witness gained the trust of all three mencrucial in such an operation. He even took a trip overseas to Jordan with Amawi, where he was introduced to Amawis family. The recordings revealed a litany of activities and support in the name of terror. Working together or separately, the three men: § Taught themselves how to make and use explosives; § Conducted their own training exercises; § Looked at and shared often graphic jihadist videos and materials on the Internet, including on how to make a suicide bombers vest; § Tried to provide computers and explosives to mujahideen fighters overseas and attempted to set up a false company that would funnel money; and § Discussed possible targets for their violent jihad, ultimately agreeing that they should go after U.S. soldiers in Iraq. In February 2006because of mounting concern about the intentions of Amawi, who was in Jordan at the timewe shut the operation down and took all three suspects into custody. All were found guilty at trial in June 2008, becoming the first members of a homegrown terror cell since 9/11 to be convicted at trial on terrorism-related charges. And the three men were sentenced last fall to prison terms ranging from eight to 20 years. In the end, the success of the investigation was the result of both time-tested law enforcement techniques and our growing post-9/11 partnerships and intelligence-gathering/analysis capabilities. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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