Saudi Terror Plot Mirrored 9/11

Al-Qaida-linked plotters hoped to reproduce the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, planning to send suicide pilots to military bases and attack the oil refineries.

Targets that drive the economy of Osama bin Laden’s homeland, the government said Saturday.

Revealing new details of the purported plot, a government spokesman said some of the 172 attackers trained as pilots in an unidentified “troubled country” nearby, hoping to use the planes to carry out suicide attacks.

The spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, would not say where the training took place: “It could be
Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, there are so many troubled regions in the world. I can’t specify.”

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U.S. Health Agency Stages Bird Flu War Game

A leading U.S. health agency staged a war game this week to test its response to one of the worst health emergencies it could imagine an outbreak of avian flu on American soil.

The exercise, which ended on Friday, was designed to simulate how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would marshal its resources, coordinate with other branches of government and, crucially, reassure the public while preparing it for a possible pandemic.

“If we were at the beginning of a pandemic this is exactly what it would look like,” said CDC Director Julie Gerberding at a news conference early in the 48-hour drill, which involved hundreds of officials.

If things turn out wrong it could lead to a “catastrophe beyond our planning,” she said.

In the script, a student infected with a new strain of H5N1 virus returns from Indonesia where a bird flu outbreak is under way. He dies but not before infecting others including members of a swimming team.

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Saudi Arabia Arrests 172 in Terror Plot

Police arrested 172 Islamic militants, some of whom had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, the Interior Ministry said Friday.

A spokesman said all that remained in the plot “was to set the zero hour.”

The ministry issued a statement saying the detainees were planning to carry out suicide atttacks against “public figures, oil facilities, refineries … and military zones” – some of which were outside the kingdom.

“They had reached an advance stage of readiness and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press in a phone call. “They had the personnel, the money, the arms. Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks.”

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Prosecutors Add Charges In Alleged Terror Plot

Federal prosecutors have added charges against a Houston-raised college student charged in connection with an alleged terrorist plot to aid the Taliban.

Syed Maaz Shah, 19, was indicted last year on two counts of being an alien in possession of a firearm.

The new charges make the same claim, but also allege that the Pakistani student was in the United States illegally.

All four counts charge Shah with unlawfully possessing a semiautomatic weapon.

“They just added (the counts) to cover a question about his status in the country,” said Shah’s attorney, Frank Jackson, of Dallas.

Either way, a student visa holder or someone who has an expired visa and is here illegally cannot have a gun, prosecutors allege.

Nancy Herrera, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to elaborate on the new charges.

Jackson said he’ll argue that his client was entrapped by a confidential informant and undercover FBI agent who gained Shah’s trust at a Muslim camp site in Willis. “There is no terrorist implication to what he has done except some words he might have used.” Jackson said. “They’re probably going to bring in some issues about conversations that he had with undercover agents reflecting some opinions about how the world is.”

Background Story – Video From Dec. 2006

Story Source – Houston Chronicle

Bishop Bomber Arrest Documents

Courtesy Press Release, The United States Department of Justice, United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois

U.S. POSTAL INSPECTORS ARREST SUSPECT IN PIPE BOMB MAILINGS TO INVESTMENT FIRMS; EARLIER THREATS SIGNED “THE BISHOP”

Iowa machinist arrested without incident in Dubuque

CHICAGO – A Dubuque, Iowa, man was arrested today by federal agents led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for allegedly mailing two partially disconnected pipe bombs from a Chicago suburb to investment firms in Denver and Kansas City in January to extort actions in the securities markets. Criminal charges unsealed following the arrest link the defendant, John P. Tomkins, to a series of more than a dozen threatening letters to investment companies and individuals associated with them dating back nearly two years, some of them signed “The Bishop,” announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Kenneth T. Laag, Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Tomkins, 42, of Dubuque, a machinist at a Dubuque manufacturing company, was arrested without incident while on his way to work early this morning. Agents subsequently began executing a search warrant at his residence.

Tomkins was charged in a two-count criminal complaint filed yesterday and unsealed today with one count of mailing a threatening communication with intent to extort and one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device. He was expected to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The arrest followed an intensive investigation by more than 100 Postal Inspectors, joined by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Illinois State Police, the Iowa Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Iowa also assisted in the investigation. Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI; Andrew L. Traver, Special Agent-in-Charge of ATF in Chicago; and Linda Thomsen, Director of the Enforcement Division of the SEC, joined Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Laag in announcing the charges.

“Public safety is our first concern, and the agents who conducted this investigation potentially saved lives by apprehending this defendant before he posed any greater public peril,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

“Our team has worked around the clock,” Mr. Laag said. “We analyzed complex financial records, and utilized our bomb experts and forensic scientists. Most importantly, we used good old-fashioned police work. The men and women who worked on this investigation are to be commended for bringing this case to a swift conclusion before anyone was harmed.”

“We couldn’t have done this investigation without the help of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the additional resources offered by the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Mr. Laag added. “The U.S. Postal Service processes more than 200 billion pieces of mail every year. Situations like this are exceedingly rare and will be aggressively pursued. The swift action in this case should reassure the public that they can continue to have confidence in the mail.”

Authorities said Tomkins formerly was a substitute rural letter carrier who worked weekends for the U.S. Postal Service. He was no longer employed by the Postal Service when the explosive devices were sent, and there is no allegation that his previous employment was a factor in the case.

According to the complaint affidavit, two parcels were deposited on or about January 26, 2007, at the Rolling Meadows Post Office in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, northwest of Chicago. One parcel was addressed to an individual at Janus Small Cap at an address in Denver, where it was forwarded unopened by Janus to a related entity in Chicago. The second parcel was addressed to an individual at American Century at an address in Kansas City, Missouri. Upon delivery, authorities were notified and both parcels were recovered by Postal Inspectors.

Each parcel contained what appeared to be a booby-trapped improvised explosive weapon, commonly known as a pipe bomb. The devices were analyzed by an ATF explosives enforcement officer and determined to be technically functional but the firing circuit was not fully connected. Had a partially disconnected wire been connected to the device’s battery, the device would have instantly exploded. The devices could have caused property damage and were capable of causing serious injury or death to persons near the explosion.

The affidavit recites a letter contained in each parcel stating, in part: “BANG!! YOU”RE DEAD.” It also stated there would be a rally over three consecutive days in early February in the stock price of a company called Navarre Corporation, a publicly-traded technology and entertainment company that trades under the ticker symbol NAVR.

The affidavit describes 16 other threatening letters that were mailed to investment companies and individuals associated with them since May 2005. Typewritten letters signed “The BISHOP” were postmarked respectively on May 23, 2005, in Chicago and September 7, 2005, in Palatine, Ill., a suburb northwest of Chicago, and two were sent on October 25, 2005 in Milwaukee. The May 23 letter to an investment company executive, for example, stated how easy it is to kill someone, citing “The Unibomber” (sic) and “Salvo,” in referring to convicted sniper Lee Malvo. All four letters also contained threatening language and demands that the price of 3Com Corporation (COMS) stock be raised to $6.66 by October 31, 2005.

On October 25, 2005, another mailing was postmarked in Milwaukee to an investment company executive, listing Individual A as the return addressee. The mailing contained a photograph of Individual A’s residence, with the following words printed on the photograph: “DO YOU KNOW WHO LIVES HERE? I DO” and “REMBER COMS 6.66 10/31/2005”. The mailing was misaddressed to the investment company executive. According to Individual A, who subsequently provided the letter to authorities, the letter was delivered to Individual A as the return addressee. At the time of the mailing, Individual A was an administrative assistant at the same investment company that employed the executive to whom the letter was addressed.

On March 13, 2006, four letters were postmarked in Des Moines, Iowa, according to the affidavit. One letter was addressed to a senior officer of Navarre Corporation, complaining about the officer’s compensation and the company’s stock price decline. The letter stated, in part: “within the next 60 days you are going to find a way to reverse the downward spiral of the stock price and get it over $6.66 or the devil will be paying you a visit.” It eventually concluded with the word “TicToc” and was signed by “The BISHOP”. The other three letters were addressed to investment company executives and allegedly contained similar threatening language and demands.

Four additional pertinent letters were postmarked in Palatine on June 9, 2006. These letters were addressed to investment management executives and stated: “TIMES UP …. IT IS BETTER TO REIGN IN HELL, THAN TO SERVE IN HEAVEN… THE BISHOP”. Three more pertinent letters, including one addressed to an investment company executive, for example, were postmarked on July 17, 2006 in Orlando, Florida.
The affidavit states that agents obtained original handwriting samples for Tomkins, including a bank signature card, mortgage documents, and employment documents. Those samples were compared with handwriting on the envelopes from certain mailings, and Tomkins’ handwriting is allegedly on the envelopes, according to a preliminary analysis.

In addition, the photograph of Individual A’s residence enclosed in an October 25, 2005, mailing depicted the window of a vehicle from which the photograph was taken. The photograph was shown to several vehicle dealers and vehicle parts companies to identify possible makes and models of vehicles corresponding to the window frame and interior visible in the photograph, and they determined that a four-door Chevrolet Lumina was the closest identified match to the vehicle. A photograph of a 1993 four-door Chevrolet Lumina was obtained, compared with the photograph, and determined to be an approximate match.
Approximately two weeks ago, on April 11, agents conducted surveillance of Tomkins in Dubuque and observed him driving a red 1993 Chevrolet Lumina four- door sedan, which records show he owns. Agents photographed the interior driver’s door of Tomkins’ vehicle. The photographs of the door show the same reddish cloth material having a vertical linear pattern, and the same marks at the top interior door near the door post area, as depicted in the photograph received by Individual A, according to the charges.

Further, the affidavit alleges that bank records show an automated teller withdrawal on March 13, 2006 – the same date as four pertinent mailings postmarked in Des Moines – from Tomkins’ account at a bank in Altoona, Iowa, which is adjacent to a truck stop containing a mailbox from which mail is processed in Des Moines. Records also show a purchase on a debit card for Tomkins’ account on July 24, 2006, at store in Kissimmee, Florida, a week after three pertinent mailings were postmarked in Orlando, which would cover mail deposited in Kissimmee.

The complaint also describes records obtained from the SEC showing individuals with positions of at least 200 option contracts. Two reports each obtained for 3Com and Navarre identify Tomkins as the only individual (non-institutional) investor account appearing in thos e reports at certain times dating back to 2005. Trading records obtained show that Tomkins held financial interests in 3Com and Navarre that would have increased in value had the securities moved in the directions demanded in the threatening letters and when the pipe bombs were mailed.

Sales records from a home improvement store in Dubuque show that in December 2006, certain PVC caps and PVC pipe were purchased using Tomkins’ credit card. Samples of PVC pipe and caps purchased recently were found to be consistent with the materials used in the alleged destructive devices. Plotting several post office locations from Tomkins’ residence showed it to be a central location from which postmarks could be obtained in Milwaukee, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, and Des Moines, by driving no more than approximately 160 miles, the complaint alleges.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark E. Schneider.

If convicted, mailing a threatening communication with intent to extort carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and possession of an unregistered destructive device carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and both counts carry a maximum fine of $250,000. The Court would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed.

The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and are not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

U.S. POSTAL INSPECTORS ARREST SUSPECT IN PIPE BOMB MAILINGS
TO INVESTMENT FIRMS; EARLIER THREATS SIGNED “THE BISHOP”
Iowa machinist arrested without incident in Dubuque
CHICAGO – A Dubuque, Iowa, man was arrested today by federal agents led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for allegedly mailing two partially disconnected pipe bombs from a Chicago suburb to investment firms in Denver and Kansas City in January to extort actions in the securities markets. Criminal charges unsealed following the arrest link the defendant, John P. Tomkins, to a series of more than a dozen threatening letters to investment companies and individuals associated with them dating back nearly two years, some of them signed “The Bishop,” announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Kenneth T. Laag, Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Tomkins, 42, of Dubuque, a machinist at a Dubuque manufacturing company, was arrested without incident while on his way to work early this morning. Agents subsequently began executing a search warrant at his residence.

Tomkins was charged in a two-count criminal complaint filed yesterday and unsealed today with one count of mailing a threatening communication with intent to extort and one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device. He was expected to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, EASTERN DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNDER SEAL v. CRIMINAL COMPLAINT JOHN P. TOMKINS
I, Kevin S. Freeman, the undersigned complainant, being duly sworn, state the following is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. On or about January 26, 2007, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, defendant, with intent to extort from a person a thing of value, knowingly caused to be delivered by the Postal Service according to the direction thereon, a communication containing a threat to injure the person of the addressee and of another, namely, a parcel containing a pipe bomb and threatening death if certain actions were not taken in the securities markets; in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 876(b); and on or about January 26, 2007, in Cook county, defendant possessed a firearm, namely, a destructive device as defined at Title 26, United States Code, Section 5845(f), which is not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Act; in violation of Title 26 United States Code, Section 5861(d), and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2.

Arrest Made In Bishop Bomber Case

He was once known to authorities only as the Bishop Bomber. But after months of investigation, he now has a real name and a face.

That man is John Tomkins, 42, from Dubuque. Investigators arrested him on his way to work Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon, Tomkins made an initial appearance in federal court in Chicago.

Click here for arrest documents.

Investigators closed Grant Street from early Wednesday morning until the afternoon. They were searching the Tomkins home at 2067 Grant St. The neighborhood has been filled with investigators and local and national media all day. Investigators believe they’ve finally come to the end of a two-year search.

The nationwide search for the man who calls himself the Bishop Bomber ends here on this quiet west end street. Investigators say John Tomkins motivation was money.

Investigators say Tomkins allegedly sent threatening notes to financial companies demanding a raise in stock numbers. Investigators say in January Tomkins sent two packages through the U.S. Postal System that had pipe bombs inside. He sent one to Kansas City, Mo. The other was found in the Chicago area.

Colen says Tomkins bought some of the supplies to make the bombs at the Dubuque Menards store. Another search team found several pieces of equipment belonging to Tomkins in this storage unit behind the Penn Place Apartments in Dubuque. All of the recovered evidence is now being sent to a crime lab in Chicago.

Developing…

Phoenix – Surprise Airport Searches Target Employees

When airport restaurant cook Jose Vezquez clocked out of work at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, the Transportation Security Administration officers were waiting for him.

The TSA is ratcheting up unannounced employee searches at the eighth busiest airport in the country.

On Tuesday, the Homeland Security agency searched the cook and 31 other Sky Harbor workers during a surprise check for weapons or other suspicious items.
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An estimated 31,000 people work at Sky Harbor. Maintaining tight employee security helps keep the 41 million passengers who pass through Sky Harbor safe, TSA officials say.

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Terror Trial To Begin For Florida Doctor

The government has said he was one in a loose-knit group of people who agreed to assist organizations designated by the United States as terrorist outfits.

But a doctor was to face trial alone on charges that he broke the law by agreeing to treat the wounds of al-Qaida members.

A jazz musician, a cab driver and a bookstore owner have already pleaded guilty in the case.

Oral questioning of jurors was scheduled to begin Tuesday, with opening statements unlikely to occur before Wednesday, in the case against Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir (pictured above).

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Canada: The Cell Next Door

In a story close to home, FRONTLINE/World and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation go inside a homegrown terrorist cell accused of planning mass destruction and murder on North American soil.

The Cell Next Door retraces events leading up to last year’s arrests in Toronto of 18, mostly young, Muslim men who are now standing trial and talks to the radical Muslim informant within their ranks who helped foil the attacks.

PBS has made this 28 minute video available to watch online.

Watch Video

Al-Qaeda Planning Large Scale British Terror Attack

“Operative claims the operation will be on a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki and will shake the Roman throne.”

al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.

Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West.

Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”.

The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq.

There is no evidence of a formal relationship between Al-Qaeda, a Sunni group, and the Shi’ite regime of President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad, but experts suggest that Iran’s leaders may be turning a blind eye to the terrorist organisation’s activities.

The intelligence report also makes it clear that senior Al-Qaeda figures in the region have been in recent contact with operatives in Britain.

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Homeland Security Eases Passport Rules for Kids

Although passports will be required for all adults entering the U.S. by next January, birth certificates will suffice for kids coming by land or sea, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

That will save families $82 per child, the cost of acquiring a child’s passport, and make it easier for sports teams and school groups to cross the border.

Rules that went into effect three months ago mandated passports for all adults entering the U.S. by air but delayed the requirement for those entering by land or sea until the start of 2008.

Because children are considered low security risks, relaxing the requirements for kids was a no-brainer, according to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Tourism officials, initially worried that requiring kids to acquire passports would discourage tourism and hurt the economy, applauded the decision.

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Palo Verde Software Is Breached

A former engineer at the nation’s largest nuclear power plant has been charged with taking computer access codes and software to Iran and using it to download details of plant control rooms and reactors, authorities said.

The FBI said there’s no indication the plant employee training software had any terrorist connections.

Mohammad Alavi, who worked at the triple-reactor Palo Verde power plant west of Phoenix, was arrested April 9 at Los Angeles International Airport when he arrived on a flight from Iran, authorities said.

Alavi, 49, is a U.S. citizen and denies any wrongdoing, said his attorney, Milagros Cisneros of the Federal Defender’s Office in Phoenix.

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Terror Alert In Philippines – Attack Expected

The United States has warned of an impending major terrorist attack in the southern Philippines, where Al Qaeda-linked militants recently beheaded seven Christian hostages.

In an advisory to its citizens circulated late yesterday, the US embassy said the attack could take place anywhere on Mindanao, the country’s main southern island.

“The embassy has information that a terrorist group may be planning to carry out bombing attacks in central Mindanao over the next several days,” the travel notice said.

It asked Americans to “carefully consider plans” to visit the area, keep a low profile and avoid going to public places, including a national sports festival scheduled in Koronadal city from April 22 to 28.

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Al-Qaeda Mergers To Intensify Attacks On West

Al-Qaeda is reaching out from its base in Pakistan to turn militant Islamist groups in the Middle East and Africa into franchises charged with intensifying attacks on western targets, according to European officials and terrorism specialists.

The development could see radical groups use al-Qaeda expertise to switch their attention from local targets to western interests in their countries and abroad. “For al-Qaeda, this is a force multiplier,” said a British official who follows terrorism.

One of the first signs of the development was an announcement on September 11 last year by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two, of a “merger” between al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and Algeria’s Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French initials, GSPC.

Western officials expect to see a similar merger be­tween al-Qaeda and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a mainly exiled organisation devoted until now to the overthrow of Muammer Gadaffi, the Libyan leader.

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