U.S.

Terror Plot Suspects Indicted

January 19, 2000 / 9:05 AM EST / AP

A federal grand jury has indicted two men in connection with a suspected terrorist plot first uncovered when an Algerian man and others were arrested at separate U.S. border crossings just before New Year's, one of them with a carload of explosives.

Abdel Ghani Meskini, 31, of Brooklyn, and Mokhtar Haouari were indicted earlier this month for violations of the federal law against providing material support to terrorists. The indictments were unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan late Tuesday.

Haouari and Meskini are accused of conspiring to transfer fake or stolen U.S. Immigration identity cards and passports of foreign countries -- including some from Canada and France. They were also indicted for using fake credit, bank and charge cards over the last year to buy $1,000 or more worth of merchandise.

The indictment did not specify what they bought.

Each of the violations -- which prosecutors said took place from October 1997 through December of last year -- was thought to be connected to terrorist activity in the United States, according to the indictment.

Meskini, formerly identified in court papers as Ghani, was arrested in his Brooklyn apartment after authorities connected him to Ahmed Ressam. Ressam, a 32-year-old Algerian national, was arrested Dec. 14 at Port Angeles, Wash., after arriving on a ferry from Canada. He is accused of trying to smuggle bomb-making materials into the United States.

Meskini, who also went by the name Eduardo Rocha and whom authorities say has been living in the United States illegally, was traced to Ressam through a piece of paper the Algerian man had on him when he was arrested.

Roland Thau, the attorney who represented Meskini in court last week, has said the evidence against his client is sketchy and the charges should be dropped.

Ressam had a one-night reservation at a motel near Seattle's Space Needle, which was cited as one reason for the cancellation of the New Year's bash there.

Ressam is in federal custody in Seattle after pleading innocent to a five-count indictment charging him with explosives smuggling.

Ressam's arrest sparked fears of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, particularly after a Canadian woman -- Lucia Garofalo -- was arrested five days later as she tried to cross into the country at Beecher Falls, Vt. She was later linked to Ressam through telephone records.

Meskini was arrested Dec. 30 in New York City and accused of attempting to meet up with Ressam.

Federal prosecutors have further connected Garofalo, Meskini and Ressam through telephone records.

No other information was released on Haouari.