A 29-year-old Moroccan man who thought he was working with al-Qaida operatives was arrested Friday near the US Capitol as he was planning to detonate what he thought was a suicide vest that undercover FBI officers gave him.
According to officials, he had also considered attacking a synagogue. Amine El Khalifi of Alexandria, Virginia, was taken into custody with a gun that didn’t work and inert explosives.
A criminal complaint charges him with knowingly and unlawfully attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against property that is owned and used by the United States. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. v According to officials, El Khalifi, who was under constant surveillance, expressed interest in killing at least 30 people and considered targeting a building in Alexandria and a restaurant, synagogue and a place where military personnel gather in Washington before he settled on the Capitol after canvassing that area a couple of times. v Amine El Khalifi sought to blow himself up in the US Capitol Building," US Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement.
"El Khalifi allegedly believed he was working with Al-Qaeda and devised the plot, the targets and the methods on his own," the statement said.
The suspected terrorist came to the U.S. when he was 16 years old and is unemployed and not believed to be associated with al-Qaida. He had been under investigation for about a year and had overstayed his visitor visa, which expired in 1999, making him in the country illegally, according to court documents.
He told acquaintances in January 2011 that he agreed the “war on terrorism’’ was a "war on Muslims" and that they needed to be ready for war, the affidavit said.
According to the Congressional Research Service, between May 2009 andFebruary 9, 2012, arrests were made in connection with 36 homegrown plots by Americans or legal permanent US residents, compared to 21 such plots between September 11, 2001 and May 2009.
Friday's arrest was startling because it marked a plot by a US-based suspect apparently intent on blowing himself up, whereas several previous sting operations foiled plots that did not necessarily involve suicide attacks.
While US authorities have been on alert to terrorism plots after the 9/11 attacks, in which terrorists flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, "I think we have this false sense that a suicide bombing... is unlikely to happen here," said Frances Townsend, former homeland security advisor to president George W. Bush.
A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama was informed Thursday of the FBI's plan to make an arrest.