Atlanta: A Georgia man accused of plotting to use an anti-tank rocket to storm into the White House was arrested in a sting Wednesday after he traded his car for guns and explosives, authorities said.
Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming was nabbed and being is charged with attempting to damage or destroy a building owned by the United States using fire or an explosive, US Attorney Byung J ‘BJay’ Pak said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Taheb had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.
A local law enforcement agency contacted the FBI in March after getting a tip from someone who said Taheb had become radicalised, changed his name and planned to travel abroad, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed in court.
The affidavit also said Taheb told a confidential FBI source in October that he planned to travel abroad for ‘hijra’, which the agent wrote refers to travelling to territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS).
Because he didn’t have a passport, he couldn’t travel abroad and told the FBI source that he wanted to carry out an attack in the US against the White House and the Statue of Liberty.
He met with the undercover agent and the FBI source multiple times last month and was also in frequent contact using an encrypted messaging application, the affidavit says.
During one meeting with the agent and the source, Taheb ‘advised that if they were to go to another country, they would be one of many, but if they stayed in the United States, they could do more damage’, the affidavit informed.
Taheb ‘explained that jihad was an obligation’ and that he wanted to do as much damage as possible, and that he expected to be a ‘martyr’, meaning he expected to die during the attack.”
Last week, Taheb told the undercover agent he wanted to pick up weapons this week and drive directly to Washington to carry out the attack, investigators said.
Taheb met Wednesday with the FBI source and undercover agent in a parking lot in Buford to exchange their cars for semi-automatic assault rifles, three explosive devices with remote detonators and an anti-tank rocket, the affidavit stated.
A second FBI undercover agent arrived in a tractor trailer with weapons and explosives that had been rendered inert by the FBI. However, once Taheb transferred the weapons into a rental car and closed the doors, agents arrested him.
AP