Massachusetts man arrested on terrorism charges (1st Lead)

Oct 21, 2009, 14:46 GMT

Washington - A US citizen has been arrested on terrorism charges that include planning an attack on a US shopping centre, the US Justice Department said Wednesday.

Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, was arrested Wednesday morning and charged in a federal court with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Mehanna allegedly sought to inspire others to commit acts of terrorism since 2001 and travelled to the Middle East in 2004 in an effort to join terrorism training camps.

Mehanna faces up to 15 years in prison. He was already arrested in November 2008 and charged in January with lying to federal investigators, but was released on bail.

The charges allege that Mehanna and a group of co-conspirators discussed getting automatic machine guns and turning them on citizens in shopping centres, US attorney Michael Loucks said in a press conference from Boston.

The plan was never carried out because they were unable to acquire the weapons they believed were needed for the attack.