By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 12:18 PM EDT, Sun September 16, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The man allegedly tried to detonate a car bomb at a Chicago bar
- Undercover FBI agents monitored the entire alleged plan, the agency says
- The FBI says the man is a U.S. citizen who wanted to carry out jihad
- The man made an initial court appearance in federal court Saturday
Adel Daoud, of the
Chicago suburb of Hillside, was taken into custody Friday night after a
"rigorous" undercover operation, the FBI said. He made an initial
appearance Saturday before a U.S. magistrate judge and has a preliminary
hearing Monday afternoon.
"The explosives that
Daoud allegedly attempted to detonate posed no threat to the public.
They were inert and had been supplied by undercover law enforcement
personnel," said Gary Shapiro, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern
District of Illinois.
Daoud, a U.S. citizen,
was charged Saturday with one count of attempting to use a weapon of
mass destruction, namely explosives, and one count of attempting to
damage and destroy a building by means of an explosive, the FBI said.
If convicted, he faces a maximum of life in prison for the first charge and 20 years for the second.
CNN could not determine Saturday whether Daoud had an attorney.
According to the FBI,
Daoud began sending e-mails in October of last year that regarded
violent jihad and the killing of Americans. In May, undercover agents
contacted Daoud, who "confirmed his belief in the propriety of killing
Americans in a terrorist attack," either in the United States or
overseas, and started seeking online resources for an attack, the FBI
said.
Another undercover agent
who said he was an operational terrorist started dealing with Daoud, who
drafted a list of approximately 29 potential targets, including
military recruiting centers, bars, malls, and other tourist attractions
in the Chicago area, according to the affidavit filed Saturday in
federal court
.
He then selected,
researched and surveilled a target for attack with an explosive device
supplied by the undercover agent, the FBI said.
Daoud and the undercover
agent met Friday night and drove to downtown Chicago with plans to blow
up a car bomb in front of a bar. During the drive, Daoud led the
undercover agent in a prayer that the pair -- Daoud and the agent --
succeed in their attack, kill many people, and cause destruction, the
FBI said.
They drove up to a Jeep
containing the purported explosive device, the FBI said, and Daoud then
parked it in front of the downtown bar.
According to the
affidavit, Daoud walked to a nearby alley and, in the presence of the
undercover agent, attempted to detonate the device. He was then
arrested.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/15/justice/illinois-terrorism-arrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
