bobdina
06-04-2010, 12:45 PM
Texan Charged in Effort to Aid Al-Qaida
June 04, 2010
Agence France-Presse
A Texas man was charged Thursday with trying to provide material support al-Qaida through cash, cellphone cards, GPS equipment and a restricted U.S. military publication on weapon systems in Afghanistan.
Barry Walter Bujol Jr., a U.S. citizen and resident of Hempstead, outside Houston, Texas, was charged with two counts in a federal indictment, including charges he committed identity theft by using a fake government-issued identification card as part of his pro-al-Qaida activities.
According to the two-year FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation, the 29-year-old exchanged e-mails with two high-profile al-Qaida supporters: radical U.S.-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi and accused would-be Christmas Day plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
He faces up to 20 years behind bars if found guilty.
Court documents alleged that Awlaqi, linked to a U.S. Army major who killed 12 of his comrades and one civilian at an Army base last year, provided Bujol with a document titled "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad" and Bujol asked the cleric for advice on how to send money to the "mujahedeen" abroad.
The Texas man also tried -- and failed -- three times to leave the United States between February and March 2009 to travel to Yemen or elsewhere in the Middle East, the documents said.
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A federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, charged Bujol with knowingly attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida's branch in Yemen in the form of personnel, currency, pre-paid telephone calling cards, mobile telephone SIM cards and global positioning system receivers.
He was also accused of having sought to provide Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) with restricted U.S. military publications, including one involving unmanned drone operations and another on the effects of U.S. military weapon systems deployed in Afghanistan.
Starting in November 2009, Bujol repeatedly told a confidential informant posing as an AQAP operative that he wanted to travel overseas to fight in "violent jihad" for the group, the Department of Justice said.
The informant gave Bujol a false photo ID provided by the FBI and Bujol then allegedly used the card to access a secure section of a port in a botched attempt to board a ship bound for the Middle East.
According to the charges, Bujol also allegedly agreed to courier materials provided by the informant to AQAP operatives in an unnamed Middle Eastern country.
FBI agents arrested Bujol after he boarded the ship with the materials.
Search warrants on his Hempstead apartment and laptop computer were executed on May 30, and U.S. prosecutors asked the court to hold Bujol in federal custody pending the outcome of further hearings in his case. A hearing on the government's motion was set for Tuesday.
"Protecting the American public from the threat of terrorism, both international and home-grown, is the highest priority of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas," U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno said in a statement.
FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Richard Powers called the arrest "a sobering reminder of the threat we continue to face."
June 04, 2010
Agence France-Presse
A Texas man was charged Thursday with trying to provide material support al-Qaida through cash, cellphone cards, GPS equipment and a restricted U.S. military publication on weapon systems in Afghanistan.
Barry Walter Bujol Jr., a U.S. citizen and resident of Hempstead, outside Houston, Texas, was charged with two counts in a federal indictment, including charges he committed identity theft by using a fake government-issued identification card as part of his pro-al-Qaida activities.
According to the two-year FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation, the 29-year-old exchanged e-mails with two high-profile al-Qaida supporters: radical U.S.-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi and accused would-be Christmas Day plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
He faces up to 20 years behind bars if found guilty.
Court documents alleged that Awlaqi, linked to a U.S. Army major who killed 12 of his comrades and one civilian at an Army base last year, provided Bujol with a document titled "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad" and Bujol asked the cleric for advice on how to send money to the "mujahedeen" abroad.
The Texas man also tried -- and failed -- three times to leave the United States between February and March 2009 to travel to Yemen or elsewhere in the Middle East, the documents said.
Click here to find out more!
A federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, charged Bujol with knowingly attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida's branch in Yemen in the form of personnel, currency, pre-paid telephone calling cards, mobile telephone SIM cards and global positioning system receivers.
He was also accused of having sought to provide Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) with restricted U.S. military publications, including one involving unmanned drone operations and another on the effects of U.S. military weapon systems deployed in Afghanistan.
Starting in November 2009, Bujol repeatedly told a confidential informant posing as an AQAP operative that he wanted to travel overseas to fight in "violent jihad" for the group, the Department of Justice said.
The informant gave Bujol a false photo ID provided by the FBI and Bujol then allegedly used the card to access a secure section of a port in a botched attempt to board a ship bound for the Middle East.
According to the charges, Bujol also allegedly agreed to courier materials provided by the informant to AQAP operatives in an unnamed Middle Eastern country.
FBI agents arrested Bujol after he boarded the ship with the materials.
Search warrants on his Hempstead apartment and laptop computer were executed on May 30, and U.S. prosecutors asked the court to hold Bujol in federal custody pending the outcome of further hearings in his case. A hearing on the government's motion was set for Tuesday.
"Protecting the American public from the threat of terrorism, both international and home-grown, is the highest priority of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas," U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno said in a statement.
FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Richard Powers called the arrest "a sobering reminder of the threat we continue to face."