Somali man charged in alleged conspiracy to bomb Ohio mall

WASHINGTON -- A Somali man has been charged with plotting to bomb an Ohio shopping mall, pursuing the type of vulnerable target in the nation's heartland that U.S. officials have been warning terrorists want to strike.

The four-count indictment returned by a grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, alleges that Nuradin Abdi conspired with convicted al-Qaida member Iyman Faris -- an al-Qaida operative who sought to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge -- and others to detonate explosives at an unidentified mall in the Columbus area.

Abdi, 32, was arrested at his Columbus apartment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving when malls across America were crowded with shoppers. Abdi, who operated a small cell phone business, had been under surveillance for months and initially was held on immigration violations, authorities said.

Faces 80 yearsCharges in the indictment, handed up Thursday and unsealed Monday, include providing material support to al-Qaida, conspiracy to provide material support and document fraud. If convicted on all charges, Abdi could be sentenced to a maximum of 80 years in prison.

The FBI repeatedly has warned al-Qaida might shift away from attempting to hit tightly guarded installations, such as government buildings or nuclear plants, to more vulnerable targets such as malls, apartment buildings or hotels.

Court papers filed by the government allege that the plot dated to March 2000 when Abdi returned from a terrorist training camp in Ethiopia to join Faris in Columbus. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the charges serve as a reminder that al-Qaida is determined "to hit the United States and hit us hard."

"We know our enemies will go to great lengths to lie in wait and to achieve the death and destruction they desire," he said at a news conference in Washington. He declined to say how far along authorities believe the plot was.

Abdi's 17-year-old brother, Mohamed AbdiKarani, said his brother loved the freedom of the United States and never spoke out against the U.S. government. Abdi has a son and daughter and his wife is pregnant, his brother said.

"He really hated terrorists," AbdiKarani said. "He loved it here. He never had as much freedom."

AbdiKarani said Abdi was friends with Faris because they attended the same mosque. Columbus is home to more than 30,000 Somalis.

Faris is serving a 20-year federal sentence after pleading guilty last June to providing material support to al-Qaida.

Faris, an Ohio-based truck driver originally from Kashmir, admitted plotting to sever the cables supporting the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and to derail trains in New York or Washington. Neither of those plots came to fruition.

Faris had received instructions from top al-Qaida leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed for what might have been a second wave of attacks to follow those of Sept. 11, 2001, investigators say. Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the hijackings, is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed overseas location.

According to U.S. immigration records, Abdi first entered the United States in 1995, lived for a time in Ontario, Canada, and then returned to the United States in August 1997. Abdi was granted asylum in the United States as a refugee in January 1999 after giving false information to immigration officials, the government charges.

Later that year, he used that refugee status to apply for a travel document by falsely claiming he was planning to visit Germany and the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

In fact, prosecutors say, Abdi used the document to travel to Ogaden, Ethiopia, to obtain "military-style training in preparation for violent jihad." The training included guns, guerrilla warfare, bombs and radio usage. One co-conspirator not in U.S. custody provided money for the trip, the indictment says.

The part of Ethiopia referenced in the indictment is known as a remote and lawless region that shares a highly porous border with Somalia. It is believed that the Al-Ittihad Al-Islami terror network, which is affiliated with al-Qaida and is fighting the Ethiopian government, operates on both sides of the border in that area.

Abdi returned to the United States in March 2000 -- again using fraudulent documents, prosecutors say -- and was met at the Columbus airport by Faris. The shopping mall plot was hatched a short time later, officials said, with one of the unidentified co-conspirators providing Abdi with bombmaking instruction.