*** He wanted a sense of belonging and a sense of being part of something greater than his mundane existence. Just part of the equation but fully, the new trend. MS ***
FROM: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ii_ruznz1EBnYNi2cUI4BdHNCMUwD9G78JR00
HOUSTON — A Texas man accused of trying to help al-Qaida referred to members of the terrorist group as his "brothers," was eager to prove his dedication to the organization and wanted to die fighting alongside them, according to court documents.
Barry Walter Bujol was set to be in court Tuesday for arraignment on charges he tried to help al-Qaida by trying to supply the terrorist network with personnel, currency and other items. He was arrested last week after a two-year investigation by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Bujol, 29, is facing one charge of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and one charge of aggravated identity theft. Bujol, who is from Hempstead, which is located about 50 miles northwest of Houston, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
A recently unsealed FBI search warrant application described Bujol as eager to prove his dedication to al-Qaida by engaging in physical and covert communications training.
He used at least 14 e-mail addresses to hide his activities from authorities and advocated attacking U.S. facilities where military weapons were manufactured, according to the court document.
The FBI task force determined Bujol had been e-mailing Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born, al-Qaida-linked cleric believed to be hiding in Yemen.
Al-Awlaki also is believed to have exchanged e-mails with Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in last November's Fort Hood shootings. He is also accused of helping inspire the Times Square bombing attempt in May and the failed Christmas Day airline bombing.
In one of the e-mails, al-Awlaki allegedly gave Bujol a document titled "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad."
Joseph Varela, Bujol's attorney, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
According to the search warrant application, Bujol referred to al-Qaida members in the Arabian peninsula as "brothers" and that he wanted to "die with the brothers for the cause of Allah, and to be in Heaven."
Bujol made three unsuccessful attempts during February and March 2009 to travel overseas to Yemen or the Middle East. After this, an informant working for the FBI befriended Bujol in November 2009, and Bujol believed the informant was a recruiter of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Bujol created a secret code that he used to communicate with the informant and gave himself the Arabic moniker of "Abu Abuadah," according to the search warrant application.
The informant had Bujol retrieve items from "dead drops," pre-arranged secret locations in public places used to exchange messages and other items. In one of these dead drops, Bujol retrieved two false identification cards from a hollowed rock FBI agents placed in a park, the warrant application said.
The cards were supposedly identification cards issued by the Transportation Security Administration that Bujol used on May 30 to gain access to a secure part of a Houston-area port with the alleged intention of boarding a ship bound for the Middle East, the court documents said.
Bujol was arrested after he boarded the ship. He had been given a military-issue compass and other materials that he allegedly agreed to courier to al-Qaida operatives in a Middle Eastern country.
The informant had previously given Bujol currency, prepaid telephone calling cards, mobile telephone SIM cards, global positioning system receivers and public access-restricted U.S. military publications, according to the court documents.
Before he was arrested, Bujol told the informant during a May 3 meeting that "if he never saw 'this place' (i.e., the United States) again it would be fine with him," the warrant application said.
Neighbors at Bujol's apartment complex in Hempstead said Tuesday that he and his family kept mostly to themselves.
Esmerelda Villanueva said Bujol's wife wouldn't let her daughter talk to other kids in the complex and that Bujol didn't talk to anybody.
"I can't believe that would happen here in Hempstead," she said. "They looked like a normal American family, you would never think."
Showing posts with label texas terror sting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label texas terror sting. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
TEXAS TERROR STING - A PROFILE
*** Disenfranchisement, feelings of inferiority, no job - the list goes on. This problem will quickly get out of hand if there is no systematic effort to counter the rhetoric of the extremists. MS ***
FROM: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7037645.html
HEMPSTEAD — Barry Bujol Jr., the man accused of trying to aid al-Qaida terrorists, and his wife were a reserved couple, neighbors said, who became devout Muslims about four years ago and who occasionally expressed feelings of disenfranchisement as black Americans.
“They'd talk about white people always wanting to overpower everything,” recalled Cindy Celis, a nearby neighbor in a subsidized apartment complex. “But they prayed three times a day, kept to themselves and never caused any trouble. They have a 6-month-old baby and a 2-year-old, and our children often played together.”
The 29-year-old Bujol is in federal custody, accused of trying to provide terrorists with global positioning instruments, cell phones and a restricted publication on the effects of U.S. military weapons in Afghanistan. Authorities said he had been exchanging e-mails with the charismatic cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, the native-born U.S. citizen who also was in communication with the man accused in the 2009 mass killings at Fort Hood, Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan.
Those accusations surprised relatives, including Bujol's aunt, Beverly Bujol. Reached at her home in Kenner, La., she recalled her nephew once toyed with giving himself a Muslim name, but she said she had no idea he was apparently using a dozen other aliases. The last his father heard from his son was a recent letter that included a picture of the new baby, she said.
‘We never dreamed … '
She described her nephew as “bright but moody.”
“We never dreamed he could be a terrorist of any kind,” she said.
None of Barry Bujol's three siblings, who reside in the Dallas area; nor his late mother, Sandra Platt; nor his father, were ever Muslim, she said.
When Bujol Jr. decided to change his faith, she said, “We didn't think much about it. We just thought he saw things different.”
Bujol had once been a student at Prairie View A&M but had not been enrolled for the last year and a half, although investigators allege he once used the computers at the school's library for e-mailing.
The university's police chief, Algray Pettus, issued a statement expressing full cooperation with the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force, but declined to say what if anything was found on the school's computers. “We take this matter very seriously,” he said.
Watched for past 2 years
Neighbors said Bujol Jr. had his own laptop and also spent hours on computers at WorkSource Solutions on U.S. 290 in Waller. The program, funded through the Texas Workforce Commission, provides computer access and other assistance for job searches.
The FBI, who had Bujol under surveillance for the last two years and had even placed a camera in his apartment, said they never saw any evidence of gainful employment by either Bujol or his wife, Ernestine Johnson.
At their home on Friday, Johnson, dressed in traditional Muslim garb — a long black dress and gray head scarf — shooed bystanders off her front porch when she returned to her apartment. Asked if she would tell her side of the story, she replied “no” before closing and locking her door.
No criminal arrests
Margie McDade, a neighbor, said she saw Bujol using the WorkSource computers many days until the offices closed for more than a year.
“He'd be on Yahoo. I kept wondering if he was cheating on his woman or what,” she said. “You are supposed to stay on sites that are job related.”
Misty Blaylock, a resource room specialist there, said she monitors computer use, but someone checking an e-mail would not draw suspicion.
Bujol had no previous criminal arrests. Twice last year when he was arrested by the Waller County Sheriff's Office for driving with a suspended license, said the chief deputy, John Kremmer.
He also was picked up in New Jersey for a suspended license during one of his three unsuccessful attempts to travel to Yemen and other spots in the Middle East.
Wife charged with fraud
He and his wife were detained at a Houston airport on an outstanding traffic warrant in February 2009. They had booked tickets to travel to Yemen.
Ernestine Johnson's cell phone has been confiscated. She has not been charged with terrorist activity. She is charged, along with her husband, with fraud for allegedly conspiring to obtain housing subsidies.
Investigators say their rent had been reduced from $715 a month to only $6, because the husband claimed to be earning $75 a week from a bogus window washing company.
After his arrest, a dozen mostly unmarked cars swooped down on Bujol's Pine Meadows apartment off U.S. 290 and yellow crime scene tape was stretched across the front door.
“At first, we thought somebody had been murdered, or maybe it was a drug bust,” said Sharon Moore, a resident.
“But the next day everyone was appalled to learn a terrorist could be living next door.”
FROM: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7037645.html
HEMPSTEAD — Barry Bujol Jr., the man accused of trying to aid al-Qaida terrorists, and his wife were a reserved couple, neighbors said, who became devout Muslims about four years ago and who occasionally expressed feelings of disenfranchisement as black Americans.
“They'd talk about white people always wanting to overpower everything,” recalled Cindy Celis, a nearby neighbor in a subsidized apartment complex. “But they prayed three times a day, kept to themselves and never caused any trouble. They have a 6-month-old baby and a 2-year-old, and our children often played together.”
The 29-year-old Bujol is in federal custody, accused of trying to provide terrorists with global positioning instruments, cell phones and a restricted publication on the effects of U.S. military weapons in Afghanistan. Authorities said he had been exchanging e-mails with the charismatic cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, the native-born U.S. citizen who also was in communication with the man accused in the 2009 mass killings at Fort Hood, Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan.
Those accusations surprised relatives, including Bujol's aunt, Beverly Bujol. Reached at her home in Kenner, La., she recalled her nephew once toyed with giving himself a Muslim name, but she said she had no idea he was apparently using a dozen other aliases. The last his father heard from his son was a recent letter that included a picture of the new baby, she said.
‘We never dreamed … '
She described her nephew as “bright but moody.”
“We never dreamed he could be a terrorist of any kind,” she said.
None of Barry Bujol's three siblings, who reside in the Dallas area; nor his late mother, Sandra Platt; nor his father, were ever Muslim, she said.
When Bujol Jr. decided to change his faith, she said, “We didn't think much about it. We just thought he saw things different.”
Bujol had once been a student at Prairie View A&M but had not been enrolled for the last year and a half, although investigators allege he once used the computers at the school's library for e-mailing.
The university's police chief, Algray Pettus, issued a statement expressing full cooperation with the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force, but declined to say what if anything was found on the school's computers. “We take this matter very seriously,” he said.
Watched for past 2 years
Neighbors said Bujol Jr. had his own laptop and also spent hours on computers at WorkSource Solutions on U.S. 290 in Waller. The program, funded through the Texas Workforce Commission, provides computer access and other assistance for job searches.
The FBI, who had Bujol under surveillance for the last two years and had even placed a camera in his apartment, said they never saw any evidence of gainful employment by either Bujol or his wife, Ernestine Johnson.
At their home on Friday, Johnson, dressed in traditional Muslim garb — a long black dress and gray head scarf — shooed bystanders off her front porch when she returned to her apartment. Asked if she would tell her side of the story, she replied “no” before closing and locking her door.
No criminal arrests
Margie McDade, a neighbor, said she saw Bujol using the WorkSource computers many days until the offices closed for more than a year.
“He'd be on Yahoo. I kept wondering if he was cheating on his woman or what,” she said. “You are supposed to stay on sites that are job related.”
Misty Blaylock, a resource room specialist there, said she monitors computer use, but someone checking an e-mail would not draw suspicion.
Bujol had no previous criminal arrests. Twice last year when he was arrested by the Waller County Sheriff's Office for driving with a suspended license, said the chief deputy, John Kremmer.
He also was picked up in New Jersey for a suspended license during one of his three unsuccessful attempts to travel to Yemen and other spots in the Middle East.
Wife charged with fraud
He and his wife were detained at a Houston airport on an outstanding traffic warrant in February 2009. They had booked tickets to travel to Yemen.
Ernestine Johnson's cell phone has been confiscated. She has not been charged with terrorist activity. She is charged, along with her husband, with fraud for allegedly conspiring to obtain housing subsidies.
Investigators say their rent had been reduced from $715 a month to only $6, because the husband claimed to be earning $75 a week from a bogus window washing company.
After his arrest, a dozen mostly unmarked cars swooped down on Bujol's Pine Meadows apartment off U.S. 290 and yellow crime scene tape was stretched across the front door.
“At first, we thought somebody had been murdered, or maybe it was a drug bust,” said Sharon Moore, a resident.
“But the next day everyone was appalled to learn a terrorist could be living next door.”
Friday, June 4, 2010
TEXAS TERROR STING
*** I'm telling you: they will adapt - they will learn which people to engage (sensitive site access in this case) - they will use EVERY (dirty) trick in the book and we will still be debating the merits of obsolete morality. MS ***
FROM:
A Texas man has been indicted on two counts for allegedly attempting to support al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and communicating with one of its top leaders Anwar Al Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who U.S. officials have placed at the center of several recent terrorist plots involving U.S. targets and Americans, including last year's deadly Ft. Hood shooting, which left 13 dead.
The man, Barry Walter Bujol, 29, allegedly was in contact with Awlaki going back to 2008, when he gained the attention of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Houston.
Agents determined that Bujol, who they said used aliases including "Abdul Bari," "Abyu Najya," "Pat Lex" and "Abdul-Bari Al Ameriki Al Aswad," was in e-mail communication with Awlaki.
The cleric allegedly provided Bujol with a document entitled, "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad." Bujol also allegedly asked Awlaki for guidance on how to provide materials and funds to foreign fighters overseas.
The two-count indictment charging him with providing material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and aggravated identity theft was unsealed late on Thursday.
The identity theft charge involves Bujol being in possession of a controlled identification card for transportation workers called a TWIC card (Transportation Workers Identification Card), which can be used to gain access to sensitive locations at ports and at other areas of critical infrastructure.
According to federal law enforcement officials, Bujol allegedly tried to leave the United States on several occasions. In February 2009, as he was attempting to fly to Yemen, according to law enforcement officials, Bujol was arrested on an outstanding traffic warrant.
Bujol, who attended Prairie View A&M University in Texas, later tried to leave the United States at the U.S.-Canadian border in March 2009 near Detroit but was denied entry by Canadian authorities.
Weeks later, he was arrested in New Jersey for driving on a suspended license.
Bujol allegedly has told investigators after his arrest on May 30, 2010, that he was attempting to leave the country to fly to Egypt.
According to Justice Department officials, in November the FBI used a confidential human source who Bujol believed was affiliated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was acting as an operative for the group.
During meetings, Bujol allegedly stated his interest in traveling oversees to engage in fighting with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
In the course of meetings, the human source being run by the FBI gave Bujol the TWIC card so that he could use it to board a ship he believed was heading to the Middle East from the port in Houston. The source also allegedly gave Bujol pre-paid calling cards, mobile phone SIM cards, GPS receivers and publications and information about unmanned aerial vehicle operations and U.S. military weapons systems.
Bujol allegedly believed he was to courier the items to AQAP operatives -- but in reality it was all an FBI sting operation. Bujol boarded the ship on May 30 in Houston and was arrested by FBI agents.
"This arrest is a sobering reminder of the threat we continue to face," said FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Richard Powers.
Joseph Varela, an attorney for Bujol, declined to comment on the case.
Bujol is scheduled to have an arraignment on June 8, 2010 in Houston.
Bujol is the latest American terrorism suspect tied to Anwar al-Awlaki. Besides the Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, in March a New Jersey nuclear plant worker, Sharif Mobley, was arrested by Yemeni security forces with 10 other suspected Al Qaeda members. Awlaki also allegedly was in contact with the so-called Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , who attempted to detonate a bomb on Northwest Airlines flight 253.
FROM:
A Texas man has been indicted on two counts for allegedly attempting to support al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and communicating with one of its top leaders Anwar Al Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who U.S. officials have placed at the center of several recent terrorist plots involving U.S. targets and Americans, including last year's deadly Ft. Hood shooting, which left 13 dead.
The man, Barry Walter Bujol, 29, allegedly was in contact with Awlaki going back to 2008, when he gained the attention of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Houston.
Agents determined that Bujol, who they said used aliases including "Abdul Bari," "Abyu Najya," "Pat Lex" and "Abdul-Bari Al Ameriki Al Aswad," was in e-mail communication with Awlaki.
The cleric allegedly provided Bujol with a document entitled, "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad." Bujol also allegedly asked Awlaki for guidance on how to provide materials and funds to foreign fighters overseas.
The two-count indictment charging him with providing material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and aggravated identity theft was unsealed late on Thursday.
The identity theft charge involves Bujol being in possession of a controlled identification card for transportation workers called a TWIC card (Transportation Workers Identification Card), which can be used to gain access to sensitive locations at ports and at other areas of critical infrastructure.
According to federal law enforcement officials, Bujol allegedly tried to leave the United States on several occasions. In February 2009, as he was attempting to fly to Yemen, according to law enforcement officials, Bujol was arrested on an outstanding traffic warrant.
Bujol, who attended Prairie View A&M University in Texas, later tried to leave the United States at the U.S.-Canadian border in March 2009 near Detroit but was denied entry by Canadian authorities.
Weeks later, he was arrested in New Jersey for driving on a suspended license.
Bujol allegedly has told investigators after his arrest on May 30, 2010, that he was attempting to leave the country to fly to Egypt.
According to Justice Department officials, in November the FBI used a confidential human source who Bujol believed was affiliated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was acting as an operative for the group.
During meetings, Bujol allegedly stated his interest in traveling oversees to engage in fighting with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
In the course of meetings, the human source being run by the FBI gave Bujol the TWIC card so that he could use it to board a ship he believed was heading to the Middle East from the port in Houston. The source also allegedly gave Bujol pre-paid calling cards, mobile phone SIM cards, GPS receivers and publications and information about unmanned aerial vehicle operations and U.S. military weapons systems.
Bujol allegedly believed he was to courier the items to AQAP operatives -- but in reality it was all an FBI sting operation. Bujol boarded the ship on May 30 in Houston and was arrested by FBI agents.
"This arrest is a sobering reminder of the threat we continue to face," said FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Richard Powers.
Joseph Varela, an attorney for Bujol, declined to comment on the case.
Bujol is scheduled to have an arraignment on June 8, 2010 in Houston.
Bujol is the latest American terrorism suspect tied to Anwar al-Awlaki. Besides the Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, in March a New Jersey nuclear plant worker, Sharif Mobley, was arrested by Yemeni security forces with 10 other suspected Al Qaeda members. Awlaki also allegedly was in contact with the so-called Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , who attempted to detonate a bomb on Northwest Airlines flight 253.
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