Officials: Dirty Bomb Plot Disrupted
U.S. Citizen Arrested in Alleged Plot

"We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb," Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

June 10, 2002

U.S. officials have disrupted an "unfolding terror plot" to explode a radioactive dirty bomb in the United States and arrested a U.S. citizen in connection with the alleged plot, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today.

Ashcroft said Abdullah al Mujahir, also known as Jose Padilla, of Chicago, trained with al Qaeda and was planning an attack in the United States.

"We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb," Ashcroft said.

Officials told ABCNEWS the United States was alerted to al Mujahir by Abu Zubaydah, a top al Qaeda operative who was captured this spring and is being interrogated at an undisclosed location.

Ashcroft said al Mujahir is a former Chicago street gang member who converted to Islam while in prison in the early 1990s. After serving his time, he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for training in al Qaeda camps, where he was trained in how to wire explosive devices and create radioactive dispersion devices, Ashcroft said.

The attorney general said al Qaeda apparently believed that Mujahir would be permitted to travel freely within the United States because of his U.S. citizenship and because he carried a U.S. passport.

Al Mujahir met in early 2001 with senior al Qaeda officials, Ashcroft said. He was arrested by federal authorities on May 8 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport while returning from Pakistan.

The probable target of Mujahir's plans to detonate the bomb was Washington, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The plot was not believed to have passed the early planning stages.

Pentagon officials told ABCNEWS al Mujahir has been moved to the Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, S.C. He had been in custody in New York state since his arrest in May.

ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas and Brian Hartman contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/chicagosuspect020610.html