Four Arrested on Plotting
Terrorist Attacks
September 1, 2005
A series of gas station robberies that
turned into an FBI terrorist investigation has led to four men being indicted
on charges of plotting terrorist attacks in the Los Angeles area.
The four men, including the head of a radical Islamic prison gang, have
been indicted on federal charges of plotting terrorist attacks against military
facilities, the Israeli Consulate and synagogues in Los Angeles.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, announcing the charges in Washington
, D.C. , referred to the London mass transit attacks in July. "Some in this
country mistakenly believed it could not happen here. Today we have chilling
evidence that it is possible," he said.
Named in the indictment are Levar Haley Washington, 25; Gregory Vernon
Patterson, 21; Hammad Riaz Samana, 21, a student originally from Pakistan
; and Kevin James, 29.
The four "conspired to wage war against the U.S. government through terrorism,
kill armed service members and murder foreign officials", according to the
indictment.
Prosecutors claim the plot was orchestrated by Washington, Patterson and
Samana on the orders of James, a prisoner at the California State Prison-
Sacramento who founded the radical group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS).
Washington was paroled from the prison in November 2004.
According to the indictment, Washington pledged his loyalty to James "until
death by martyrdom" and sought to establish a JIS cell outside prison with
members with bomb expertise.
Washington, Patterson and Samana - who attended the same Inglewood mosque - allegedly
conducted surveillance of a number of Los Angeles targets including National
Guard sites and the Israeli Consulate.
The attacks were to be carried out with firearms and other weapons at synagogues
during Jewish holidays "to maximize the number of casualties," authorities
said. Patterson allegedly bought a .223-caliber rifle in July.
"Make no mistake about it - we dodged a bullet here, perhaps many bullets," Los
Angeles police Chief William Bratton said.
To finance the attacks, prosecutors said, Washington, Patterson and Samana
robbed a string of gas stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Searches
of their homes following their arrest unearthed a list of possible targets
and the FBI was called in.
Back to News Archives
|
