LUBBOCK, Texas — A 20-year-old Saudi student appeared in federal court here yesterday, charged with trying to make bombs to be used in attacks on US targets, while federal agents sifted through electronic correspondence, phone records, and other material to see if there was evidence of a wider conspiracy.
So far, they said, he seems to have acted alone. “It appeared that he intended to detonate the bombs on his own in the United States,’’ said Robert E. Casey Jr., the FBI special agent in charge of the Dallas field office.
The student, Khalid Aldawsari, is charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a penalty of life in prison.
Aldawsari did not enter a plea, but his attorney, Rod Hobson, said he would plead not guilty once an indictment was filed. He told reporters that the news coverage of Aldawsari’s arrest had been one-sided and said that it might not be possible for him to receive a fair trial in Lubbock.
Prosecutors said Aldawsari had obtained two of the three chemicals needed for a bomb over the last three months and had tried to buy the third. He was also researching targets, among them the Dallas residence of former President George W. Bush, several dams in Colorado and California, and the homes of three former military guards who served in Iraq, according to the criminal complaint.In a journal found in his apartment, Aldawsari also wrote the outline of a plan to travel to New York, place bombs in rental cars and leave them on parked on city streets during rush hour.
So far, they said, he seems to have acted alone. “It appeared that he intended to detonate the bombs on his own in the United States,’’ said Robert E. Casey Jr., the FBI special agent in charge of the Dallas field office.
The student, Khalid Aldawsari, is charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a penalty of life in prison.
Aldawsari did not enter a plea, but his attorney, Rod Hobson, said he would plead not guilty once an indictment was filed. He told reporters that the news coverage of Aldawsari’s arrest had been one-sided and said that it might not be possible for him to receive a fair trial in Lubbock.
Prosecutors said Aldawsari had obtained two of the three chemicals needed for a bomb over the last three months and had tried to buy the third. He was also researching targets, among them the Dallas residence of former President George W. Bush, several dams in Colorado and California, and the homes of three former military guards who served in Iraq, according to the criminal complaint.In a journal found in his apartment, Aldawsari also wrote the outline of a plan to travel to New York, place bombs in rental cars and leave them on parked on city streets during rush hour.
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