US to formally charge four suspected terrorists (2nd Roundup)

May 21, 2009, 18:12 GMT

New York - US authorities planned on Thursday to formally charge four arrested men with conspiracy to acquire weapons of mass destruction and blow up a Jewish temple in New York with explosives.

The four suspects were arrested late Wednesday by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and police, who were tipped about the plot that also included buying anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down planes at the Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, about 100 kilometres north of New York City.

'The New York Police Department did exactly what they're trained to do and have prevented what could have been a terrible event in our city,' Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday, praising the work of the police.

News reports said the agents and police watched the suspects on Wednesday planting the alleged bombs at the synagogue before moving in to arrest the men. But the reports said the men were given fake explosives in a sting operation conducted by police who were tipped in advance of the plot.

'The bombs had been made by the FBI technicians, they were totally inert, no one was ever at risk,' Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

The four suspects were identified as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all were residents of Newburgh.

The suspects were to appear before a federal court in White Plains to be formally charged later Thursday.

   Each defendant could face life in prison. The minimum mandatory sentences are 25 years in prison.

The reports said FBI agents and police had mounted a surveillance operation since June 2008, on the suspects in order to foil the plot. They were tipped by an informant charged with keeping tabs on the suspects.

The suspects received inert bombs and an inactive Stinger missile, US authorities said Wednesday night after the arrest of the men.

   In an interview on CNN, Congressman Peter King of New York said the attack was planned to be carried out Wednesday night when the arrests were made. He labeled the suspects 'homegrown terrorists.'

'The defendants wanted to engage in terrorist attacks,' said Lev Dassin, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York. 'They selected targets and sought the weapons necessary to carry out their plans.

   'Fortunately, the defendants sought the assistance of a witness cooperating with the government. While the weapons provided to the defendants by the cooperating witness were fake, the defendants thought they were absolutely real.'

   The federal criminal complaint alleged that the case began when Cromitie expressed to the informant in June 2008 a desire to do 'something to America' because he was upset by the war in Afghanistan and that many Muslims were killed by US forces there and in Pakistan.

   Cromitie said he would go to 'paradise' if he died a martyr and told the informant he wanted to 'do jihad,' the complaint said

   The informant later claimed involvement with the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization, and pretended to aid the conspirators in their preparations.