U.S. Indicts Terror Plot Suspects

While the Sept. 11 hijackers were putting the final touches on their deadly plans for the World Trade Center and Pentagon, federal authorities say another group of terrorists was plotting attacks on a different slate of landmarks in New York and Washington.

Three British citizens with suspected al Qaeda ties were scouting the New York Stock Exchange, just blocks from the Twin Towers, five months before the 2001 attacks, a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges. Other financial institutions in New York and nearby Newark, N.J., also were under surveillance, as were two Washington buildings just across the Potomac River from the Pentagon.

CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports that the bad news is, the U.S. didn't discover the plot until last year.

Last August's Homeland Security Department discovery sent the New York financial district to orange alert, and sent shivers through the already-tense city. A captured terrorist's computer revealed detailed surveillance notes of the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Building in New York along with the Prudential Building in Newark and the International Monetary Fund in Washington — all prime financial targets vital to the U.S. economy.

It is unclear how advanced the allegedly years-long plot was at the time of the discovery — or even if it was still being planned. But security was boosted immediately in reaction.

A four-count indictment returned by a New York City grand jury alleges the men, already in British custody, visited and conducted surveillance of the buildings and surrounding neighborhoods between August 2000 and April 2001.

The alleged plot was foiled when Pakistani investigators seized a computer with information from the surveillance. British authorities were alerted and arrested eight men, including the three suspects, on terrorism-related charges last August, Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey said.

The indictment "sends a message about our resolve to terrorists," Comey said at a Justice Department news conference.

The grand jury returned the indictment on March 23 but it was not unsealed until Tuesday. Named in it are Dhiran Barot, 33, Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26, and Qaisar Shaffi, 26. They could receive life sentences if convicted of the most serious charge, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States. The indictment lists those weapons as improvised explosive devices and bombs.

U.S. officials claim Barot is a senior al Qaeda figure, known variously as Abu Eisa al-Hindi, Abu Musa al-Hindi and Issa al-Britani.

Although they allegedly were doing their surveillance at the same time the Sept. 11 hijackers were making their final preparations, nothing in the indictment links this group to the hijackers.

The indictment does not allege any specific actions by the men in the United States or elsewhere after April 2001, though Comey said their plotting continued. "This conspiracy was alive and kicking until August 2004," he said.

Bush administration authorities said the decision to raise the risk of a terrorist attack to "high" for those specific financial institutions was based on an abundance of caution and because of al Qaeda's history of lengthy planning and plotting.

These three men, according to the indictment, used common tour groups, walk-bys and helicopter rides to scout the buildings. As CBS' Stewart reports, al Qaeda terrorists had videotaped the buildings in August 2000 and April 2001. They had even gone inside some of the buildings to test their security.

But meanwhile the 9/11 crew was preparing by taking flying lessons. And, it seems, Bin Laden always thought bigger was better, and gave his blessings to the 9/11 plotters.

The rest of the plans were put on hold, Stewart reports. But he noted that this "bigger is better" line of al Qaeda thinking could indicate that when the group strikes next, it's going to be intense.

British proceedings and any sentences would have to be completed before U.S. agents could question the men or seek their extradition, the Crown Prosecution Service said. The trial in Britain is scheduled to begin in January, it said.

"They are indicted here and whether or not they actually ever are extradited here I guess is a matter of discussion," said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "But I think it's important, both substantively and symbolically important, that you come here, you do this type of surveillance, we're not going to forget."