Feds Arrest Somali Teen in Oregon Bomb Plot
Last Updated 2:17 p.m. ET
An Oregon student accused of attempting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland was acting on his own initiative and not at the direction of any foreign terrorist organization, a law enforcement official said Saturday.
Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, hatched the plan on his own to use a cell phone to detonate what he believed was an explosive-filled van at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on a condition of anonymity.
The official said Mohamud was very committed to the plot and alone planned the details, including where to park the van for the maximum number of casualties.
Authorities say Mohamud sent bomb components to undercover FBI agents who he believed were assembling the explosive device, but the agents supplied a fake that Mohamud tried to detonate twice via his phone.
The public was never in danger, authorities said.
Justice Department Press Release
CBSNews.com Report: Terror in the U.S.
Mohamud was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him.
Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" - Arabic for "God is great!" - Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.
"The threat was very real," said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale."
The official said agents began investigating Mohamud after receiving a tip from someone who was concerned about the teenager. The official declined to provide any more detail about the relationship between Mohamud and that source.
The FBI monitored Mohamud's e-mail. They found that he was in e-mail contact with people overseas and was asking how he could travel to Pakistan and join the fight for jihad, according to an FBI affidavit.
Mohamud, a student at Oregon State University, e-mailed a friend living in Pakistan who had been a student in Oregon in 2007-2008, according to the official.
The FBI's affidavit says the friend in Pakistan referred him to another associate, but gave him an invalid e-mail address that Mohamud tried repeatedly to use unsuccessfully. The official said FBI agents saw that as an opportunity and e-mailed Mohamud in response, claiming to be associates of his friend, the former student.
The friend Mohamud was e-mailing was in Pakistan's northwest frontier province, an area known to harbor terrorists, but the law enforcement official said there is no indication that any foreign terrorist group was behind the plot.
CBS News national security analyst Juan Zarate called the case "disturbing" in part because it showed American citizens partaking and being mobilized to wage terror attacks.
"So this isn't just about al Qaeda plotting attacks," Zarate said on "The Early Show on Saturday Morning." "We have American citizens actually planning attacks against their fellow citizens, even in Portland, Oregon."
The affidavit said Mohamud was warned several times about the seriousness of his plan, that women and children could be killed, and that he could back out, but he told agents: "Since I was 15 I thought about all this;" and "It's gonna be a fireworks show ... a spectacular show."
Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Corvallis, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. A court appearance was set for Monday.
"I think there is a silver lining," Zarate added, "and that is the FBI has done a fairly good job over time with a series of these types of disruptions, getting in beforehand, talking with these individuals, getting in with undercover agents and confidential informants. You saw in this case there was no real threat; the FBI was really controlling the event. You saw this recently in Washington, D.C., with the Metro threat - they had it contained.
"The good news is the FBI is doing its job; the bad news is you have American citizens still trying to blow up their fellow citizens," Zarate said.
Authorities allowed the plot to proceed in order to build up enough evidence to charge the suspect with attempt.
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said Saturday that President Barack Obama was aware of the FBI operation before Friday's arrest. Shapiro said Obama was assured that the FBI was in full control of the operation and that the public was not in danger.
"The events of the past 24 hours underscore the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad," Shapiro said. "The president thanks the FBI, the Department of Justice and the rest of our law enforcement, intelligence and Homeland Security professionals who have once again served with extraordinary skill and resolve and with the commitment that their enormous responsibilities demand."
The alleged plot in Portland follows a string of terrorist attack planning by U.S. citizens or residents, including a Times Square plot in which Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty to trying to set off a car bomb at a bustling street corner. U.S. authorities had no intelligence about Shahzad's plot until the smoking car turned up in Manhattan.
Late last month, Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Virginia was arrested and accused of casing Washington-area subway stations in what he thought was an al Qaeda plot to bomb and kill commuters. Similar to the Portland sting, the bombing plot was a ruse conducted over the past six months by federal officials.
U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton released federal court documents to The Associated Press and the Oregonian newspaper that show the sting operation began in June after an undercover agent learned that Mohamud had been in regular e-mail contact with an "unindicted associate" in Pakistan's northwest, a frontier region where al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are strong. The person Mohamud had been in e-mail contact with was a friend living in Pakistan who had been a student in Oregon in 2007-2008, the official told the AP.
The two used coded language in which the FBI believes Mohamud discussed traveling to Pakistan to prepare for "violent jihad," the documents said.
In June an FBI agent contacted Mohamud "under the guise of being affiliated with" the suspected terrorist.
An undercover agent met with him a month later in Portland, where they "discussed violent jihad," according to the court documents.
As a trial run, Mohamud and agents detonated a bomb in Oregon's backcounry earlier this month.
"This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people - even here in Oregon - who are determined to kill Americans," Holton said.
Friday, an agent and Mohamud drove to downtown Portland in a white van that carried six 55-gallon drums with detonation cords and plastic caps, but all of them were inert, the complaint states.
They left the van near the downtown ceremony site and went to a train station where Mohamud was given a cell phone that he thought would blow up the vehicle, according to the complaint. There was no detonation when he dialed, and when he tried again federal agents and police made their move.
Omar Jamal, first secretary to the Somali mission to the United Nations, condemned the plot and urged Somalis to cooperate with police and the FBI.
"Talk to them and tell them what you know so we can all be safe," Jamal said.
Somalia Foreign Minister Mohamed Abullahi Omaar said his government is "ready and willing" to offer the U.S. any assistance it may need to prevent similar attempts. He said the attempt in Portland was a tragedy for Mohamud's family and the "people he tried to harm."
"Mohamud's attempt is neither representative nor an example of Somalis. Somalis are peace loving people," said Omaar, whose government is holed up in a few blocks of the capital, Mogadishu, while much of the country's southern and central regions are ruled by Islamist insurgents.
Tens of thousands of Somalis have resettled in the United States since their country plunged into lawlessness in 1991, and the U.S. has boosted aid to the country.
In August, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment naming 14 people accused of being a deadly pipeline routing money and fighters from the U.S. to al-Shabab, an al Qaeda affiliated group in Mohamud's native Somalia,
At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder said the indictments reflect a disturbing trend of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. residents to become terrorists.
Officials have been working with Muslim community leaders across the United States, particularly in Somali diasporas in Minnesota, trying to combat the radicalization.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. An Oregon student accused of attempting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland was acting on his own initiative and not at the direction of any foreign terrorist organization, a law enforcement official said Saturday.
Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, hatched the plan on his own to use a cell phone to detonate what he believed was an explosive-filled van at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on a condition of anonymity.
The official said Mohamud was very committed to the plot and alone planned the details, including where to park the van for the maximum number of casualties.
Authorities say Mohamud sent bomb components to undercover FBI agents who he believed were assembling the explosive device, but the agents supplied a fake that Mohamud tried to detonate twice via his phone.
The public was never in danger, authorities said.
Justice Department Press Release
CBSNews.com Report: Terror in the U.S.
Mohamud was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him.
Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" - Arabic for "God is great!" - Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.
"The threat was very real," said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale."
The official said agents began investigating Mohamud after receiving a tip from someone who was concerned about the teenager. The official declined to provide any more detail about the relationship between Mohamud and that source.
The FBI monitored Mohamud's e-mail. They found that he was in e-mail contact with people overseas and was asking how he could travel to Pakistan and join the fight for jihad, according to an FBI affidavit.
Mohamud, a student at Oregon State University, e-mailed a friend living in Pakistan who had been a student in Oregon in 2007-2008, according to the official.
The FBI's affidavit says the friend in Pakistan referred him to another associate, but gave him an invalid e-mail address that Mohamud tried repeatedly to use unsuccessfully. The official said FBI agents saw that as an opportunity and e-mailed Mohamud in response, claiming to be associates of his friend, the former student.
The friend Mohamud was e-mailing was in Pakistan's northwest frontier province, an area known to harbor terrorists, but the law enforcement official said there is no indication that any foreign terrorist group was behind the plot.
CBS News national security analyst Juan Zarate called the case "disturbing" in part because it showed American citizens partaking and being mobilized to wage terror attacks.
"So this isn't just about al Qaeda plotting attacks," Zarate said on "The Early Show on Saturday Morning." "We have American citizens actually planning attacks against their fellow citizens, even in Portland, Oregon."
The affidavit said Mohamud was warned several times about the seriousness of his plan, that women and children could be killed, and that he could back out, but he told agents: "Since I was 15 I thought about all this;" and "It's gonna be a fireworks show ... a spectacular show."
Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Corvallis, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. A court appearance was set for Monday.
"I think there is a silver lining," Zarate added, "and that is the FBI has done a fairly good job over time with a series of these types of disruptions, getting in beforehand, talking with these individuals, getting in with undercover agents and confidential informants. You saw in this case there was no real threat; the FBI was really controlling the event. You saw this recently in Washington, D.C., with the Metro threat - they had it contained.
"The good news is the FBI is doing its job; the bad news is you have American citizens still trying to blow up their fellow citizens," Zarate said.
Authorities allowed the plot to proceed in order to build up enough evidence to charge the suspect with attempt.
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said Saturday that President Barack Obama was aware of the FBI operation before Friday's arrest. Shapiro said Obama was assured that the FBI was in full control of the operation and that the public was not in danger.
"The events of the past 24 hours underscore the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad," Shapiro said. "The president thanks the FBI, the Department of Justice and the rest of our law enforcement, intelligence and Homeland Security professionals who have once again served with extraordinary skill and resolve and with the commitment that their enormous responsibilities demand."
The alleged plot in Portland follows a string of terrorist attack planning by U.S. citizens or residents, including a Times Square plot in which Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty to trying to set off a car bomb at a bustling street corner. U.S. authorities had no intelligence about Shahzad's plot until the smoking car turned up in Manhattan.
Late last month, Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Virginia was arrested and accused of casing Washington-area subway stations in what he thought was an al Qaeda plot to bomb and kill commuters. Similar to the Portland sting, the bombing plot was a ruse conducted over the past six months by federal officials.
U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton released federal court documents to The Associated Press and the Oregonian newspaper that show the sting operation began in June after an undercover agent learned that Mohamud had been in regular e-mail contact with an "unindicted associate" in Pakistan's northwest, a frontier region where al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are strong. The person Mohamud had been in e-mail contact with was a friend living in Pakistan who had been a student in Oregon in 2007-2008, the official told the AP.
The two used coded language in which the FBI believes Mohamud discussed traveling to Pakistan to prepare for "violent jihad," the documents said.
In June an FBI agent contacted Mohamud "under the guise of being affiliated with" the suspected terrorist.
An undercover agent met with him a month later in Portland, where they "discussed violent jihad," according to the court documents.
As a trial run, Mohamud and agents detonated a bomb in Oregon's backcounry earlier this month.
"This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people - even here in Oregon - who are determined to kill Americans," Holton said.
Friday, an agent and Mohamud drove to downtown Portland in a white van that carried six 55-gallon drums with detonation cords and plastic caps, but all of them were inert, the complaint states.
They left the van near the downtown ceremony site and went to a train station where Mohamud was given a cell phone that he thought would blow up the vehicle, according to the complaint. There was no detonation when he dialed, and when he tried again federal agents and police made their move.
Omar Jamal, first secretary to the Somali mission to the United Nations, condemned the plot and urged Somalis to cooperate with police and the FBI.
"Talk to them and tell them what you know so we can all be safe," Jamal said.
Somalia Foreign Minister Mohamed Abullahi Omaar said his government is "ready and willing" to offer the U.S. any assistance it may need to prevent similar attempts. He said the attempt in Portland was a tragedy for Mohamud's family and the "people he tried to harm."
"Mohamud's attempt is neither representative nor an example of Somalis. Somalis are peace loving people," said Omaar, whose government is holed up in a few blocks of the capital, Mogadishu, while much of the country's southern and central regions are ruled by Islamist insurgents.
Tens of thousands of Somalis have resettled in the United States since their country plunged into lawlessness in 1991, and the U.S. has boosted aid to the country.
In August, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment naming 14 people accused of being a deadly pipeline routing money and fighters from the U.S. to al-Shabab, an al Qaeda affiliated group in Mohamud's native Somalia,
At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder said the indictments reflect a disturbing trend of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. residents to become terrorists.
Officials have been working with Muslim community leaders across the United States, particularly in Somali diasporas in Minnesota, trying to combat the radicalization.
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"O ye who believe (Islam)! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who take them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guides not wrongdoing folk." -Koran, Al-Maeda 5:51
"I will cast terror into the heart of those who disbelieve (Islam). Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them" - Koran, -al-Anfal (spoils of war) 8:12
"To those who disbelieve (Islam)...fight with them until...religion should be only for Allah" - Koran, al-Anfal (spoils of war) 8:38&39
"Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah (non-Muslims)" - Koran, al-Anfal (spoils of war) 8:60
"Exhort the believers (in Islam) to fight. If there be of you twenty steadfast they shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a hundred they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because the disbelievers are a folk without intelligence." -Koran, Al-Anfal (spoils of war) 8:65
"Slay the idolaters (non-Muslims) wherever you find them, and take them captives, and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush" - Koran, at-Taubah 9:5
"...make war on the leaders of unbelief (in Islam)...Make war on them: Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace..." -Koran, at-Tawba 9:12-14
"Fight those who do not believe in Allah?out of those who have been given the Book (Jews and Christians) until they pay the Jizya tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection." - Koran, Al-Tawba 9:29
"Oh you who believe (in Islam)! Fight those of the infidels (non-Muslims) that are near you and let them find in you hardness" -Koran, at-Tawba 9:123
"When you meet the unbelievers (in Islam) in jihad, chop off their heads..." - Koran, Muhammad 47:4
"Muhammad is Allah's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers (in Islam)." -Koran, al-Fath (victory, conquest) 48:29
"Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'" (Bukhari 84:57)
[Allah's Apostle said] "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him." (Bukhari 52:256)
"Jihad in the way of Allah elevates the position of a man in paradise" (Sahih Muslim 20:4645)
"Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four?" -Koran, an-Nisa (women) 4:3
"Men are in charge of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them, refuse to share their beds, beat them; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great. " - Koran, an-Nisa (women) 4:34
"Try as you may you cannot treat all your wives impartially" -Koran, an-Nisa (women) 4:129
by sayfud-deen November 28, 2010 8:21 AM EST
Man people in this country are really uninformed. Somalia has been trying to establish an Islamic State under the Sharia for about ten years or more. The U.S. calls this an unstable goverment! Now true to form the U.S. is funding Somalia by way of Ethopia! The Somalians are winning And the U.S. is against Sharia Law anywhere. The point of all of this is that it is time to use the Somalians to scare the Americans,and the beat goes on.
*******************************************************************
Quand on s?me le vent, on r?colte la temp?te.
Les USA, s'immiscent dans les affaires de tout le monde, se m?lent de tout et de rien.
Ils veulent fa?onner le monde selon leur id?ologie.
Cela dit terroriser les innocents est impardonnable, injustifiable
*******************************
When you sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.
The U.S., interfere in the affairs of everyone getting involved in everything and nothing.
the U.S. wants to shape the world according to their ideology.
That said, terrorizing innocent people is unforgivable. au revoir
Send him and the rest of his Somai illegals BACK to where they came from, in pine boxes preferably.
Yeah, and THIS is how we get repaid for helping this Somali scum! I say ship all their azzes BACK and dump them off in the desert there with only the clothes on their backs.
Religous indoctrination which exists amongst all creeds, is the greatest evil this world has known.
So many uncountable numbers of people have died over the centuries as a result of religous indoctrination of fools, who really have no idea of the world around them, no creed can claim to be innocent of such
"Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool"--Voltaire
He'll be a big hit in the prison, they love veal.
by jrjrc November 27, 2010 3:51 PM EST
Muslims need to speak out and take MORE action against this type of crazy, hateful, and sick behavior, which seems to be more prevalent in their religion, and anyone being SILENT makes you part of the problem. ANY religious FANATIC (who can be Muslim, Christian, Catholic, etc.) who attempt to terrorize and harm others in the name of their religion should receive life in prison without parole and/or the death penalty.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-201_162-7093701.html?assetTypeId=30&tag=contentBody;commentsStandAlone#ixzz16WXAg4cP
Enfin quelqu'un qui ne confond pas entre "islam et terrorisme", qui reconnait aussi que le terrorisme ou je cite le fanatisme religieux, peut provenir de toutes les soci?t?s, toutes les religions.
je te signale que les pays musulmans souffrent de ce ph?nom?ne, qu'est le terrorisme.
Ils ?ssaient de le combattre par tous les moyens.
le terrorisme a pris une ampleur mondiale.
Seule la coop?ration entre tous les pays peut enrayer ce fl?au, ainsi que la vigilance au sein des populations.
les musulmans sont conscients, ils comptent aussi
sur la compr?hension, ainsi que sur la coop?ration avec les pays occidentaux.
car le monde entier est concern?.
au revoir