Two Chicago men accused of plotting terror attacks in Denmark
Major Debacle
dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102701205.html
Federal authorities have arrested and charged two Chicago area
men in connection with an alleged terrorist plot focused on
targets in Denmark after a newspaper there published cartoons
that enraged the Muslim community.
Prosecutors in Chicago and the District said that the men posed
"no imminent danger" and noted that David Coleman Headley and
Tahawar Hussain Rana have been in U.S. custody for several days
while they conducted further "investigative activity."
Headley, 49, allegedly identified targets in Denmark for a
possible terror strike and traveled there twice this year to
conduct surveillance and to report to overseers in Pakistan with
ties to al-Qaeda, according to court papers.
He was arrested this month at Chicago's O'Hare International
Airport before he could board a flight headed for Pakistan,
authorities said. He faces charges including conspiracy to
murder people abroad and providing material support to terrorist
groups.
A U.S. citizen who changed his name three years ago, Headley
allegedly conspired with high-ranking operatives overseas, using
code words to conceal the plot called the "Mickey Mouse
Project." Among Headley's correspondents, prosecutors say, were
two unnamed people with ties to the al-Qaeda affiliated group
Lashkar-i-Taiba and with Ilyas Kashmiri, the operational chief
of another Pakistani organization connected to al-Qaeda.
Rana, a Pakistani native who resides in Chicago, where he owns a
halal meat business and an immigration operation, has been
charged with conspiring to provide support to terrorists by
allegedly helping to arrange Headley's travels.
"The public should be reassured there was no imminent danger in
the Chicago area," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a
statement.
David S. Kris, the assistant attorney general who oversees the
National Security Division, said that U.S. authorities worked
closely with foreign partners and shared information with
officials in Europe as part of the unfolding probe.
"This case is a reminder that the threat posed by international
terrorist organizations is global in nature and requires
constant vigilance at home and abroad," Kris said.
The investigation, which continues, relied in part on recorded
telephone conversations, intercepted e-mail messages and other
evidence including short videos of military, transport and
newspaper targets in Copenhagen, according to court filings.