WASHINGTON, 25 June 2006 — Florida-based terrorists sought explosives and guns to wage war on the United States, pledged loyalty to Al-Qaeda and plotted to topple Chicago’s soaring Sears Tower, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said yesterday.
“We identified and disrupted a terrorist plot before any damage could be done,” Gonzales said.
But the shackled men who appeared Friday in a Miami court were described by family and friends as devout, albeit unorthodox Christians, some of them homeless but not dangerous. Even Gonzales conceded that what he called a “home-grown terrorism cell” posed “no immediate threat.”
The seven — five US citizens, one legally resident Haitian and one Haitian apparently illegally in the United States — could face life in prison if convicted.
Those arrested ranged in age from 22 to 32. All are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to blow up buildings and support terrorism.
The murky role of an FBI agent posing as an Al-Qaeda operative who promised to deliver machine guns, explosives and other items on the suspects’ “wish list,” including $50,000 in cash, seems certain to prompt accusations of entrapment at trial.
Five of the defendants, including alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste, appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday under heavy security. They were brought in and out in single file, chained together at the wrists and wearing ankle chains.
“It’s an example of the philosophy of prevention. These arrests were made during the talking stage, long before any bomb-making stage,” said Kendall Coffey, a former US attorney in Florida. “While they may be seen as bungling wannabes, they are potentially dangerous wannabes who, based on the allegations, were pursuing extremely dangerous plans.”
Prosecutors said Batiste began recruiting and training the others in November. The FBI learned of the plot from someone the defendants tried to recruit, authorities said. The FBI then arranged for an informant of Arabic descent to pass himself off as an Al-Qaeda operative.
Batiste met several times in December with the informant and asked for boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles and $50,000 to help him build an “Islamic Army,” the indictment said.
Joseph Phanor, the father of defendant Stanley Grant Phanor, said he did not believe “anything they say about” his son.
“This boy, he’s not a violent boy. He never got into trouble. He didn’t want to kill people,” the elder Phanor told reporters. Court records show that his son was convicted of carrying a concealed firearm in 2002 and sentenced to two years’ probation.
Family members of some of the suspects voiced astonishment at the charges. One told a reporter that her son, a construction worker, brought his paycheck home every Friday and had no interest in Islam, extremism or doing any harm to the United States. Another told a television news crew that her brother didn’t like Al-Qaeda and couldn’t spell it.
Relatives described the defendants as deeply religious people who studied the Bible and took classes in Islam. Phanor said his son went to classes on Islam with a friend but that he read the Bible at his father’s house.
Another defendant, Lyglenson Lemorin, was arrested in Atlanta and made a court appearance there. Phanor did not appear in court. He was in custody on what authorities said was an unrelated state charge.
The other defendants were identified as Patrick Abraham, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin and Rotschild Augustine.
No pleas were entered during the court hearings.
