Florida Man Threatened To Blow Up the White House
Miramar man faces bomb threat charges

June 19, 2002
By Christy McKerney & Tanya Weinberg, Sun-Sentinel

One relative describes him as immature and says he was set up. But federal prosecutors say he threatened to blow up the White House and a Florida power plant.

Safraz Jehaludi was arrested by U.S. Secret Service agents on Monday at Kemper Risk National Services in Plantation, where he worked as a data entry technician.


Federal prosecutors say the Miramar man, 22, sent an anonymous tip from his work computer to the FBI Internet desk on May 31, saying he had overheard “Safraz Jehaludi” state he was planning to blow up a Florida Power & Light Co. power plant and make a name for himself in an attempt to kill the president and take over the White House.

“I believe he was set up and what they presented today in court, it was just laughable,” Jehaludi’s cousin, Moien Mohamed, said Tuesday. “An anonymous tip about himself? How crazy that is.”

“It’s so off the wall,” Mohamed said.

Jehalud appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted Bandstra in Miami and is scheduled for a bond hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday.

He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charges.

Jehaludi, a Muslim who prays with his cousin at the Islamic Movement of Florida in Davie, grew up in Connecticut and is of Guyanese descent, according to his cousin.

Jehaludi denied making any threats in a June 4 interview with Secret Service agents.

But on June 11, prosecutors say, he sent another tip to the FBI Web site from a computer at the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale.

Secret Service agents picked up Jehaludi at his workplace Monday and questioned him in their Miami field office, where Jehaludi waived the right to an attorney and eventually confessed, prosecutors say.

But Jehaludi’s cousin Mohamed, owner of Mohamed Halaal Supermarket in Hollywood, describes him as a shy and immature young man who, without a lawyer, could be easily scared and intimidated into making a confession.

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