U.S. authorities have arrested a 20-year-old Saudi national on charges he tried to use a weapon of mass destruction and potentially targeted former President George W. Bush, the Justice Department said Thursday.
FBI agents arrested Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, who was admitted into the United States in 2008 on a student visa, in Texas on Wednesday. The Justice Department accuses him of purchasing chemicals and equipment to make an improvised explosive device.
Aldawsari, a student at South Plains College near Lubbock, allegedly referred to Bush's Dallas home as a "tyrant's house" and possibly contemplated using dolls to conceal the explosives, the statement said.
He allegedly sent himself a series of emails identifying possible targets, including the homes of three U.S. military troops who had served at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and reservoir dams in Colorado and California.
An affidavit filed in support of the government's claims said Aldawsari appeared to be training himself how to create detonators and bombs using household items and commercially available scientific supplies.
Two searches of his apartment conducted by the FBI this month turned up "concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids; the beakers and flasks; wiring; Hazmat suit; and clocks," the DOJ statement said.
'It is time for Jihad'
Agents also found a notebook believed to be Aldawsari's journal, in which he allegedly wrote that he'd been planning to commit an attack on U.S. soil for years, and specifically sought out a certain scholarship because it would get him into the country and provide funds that would "help tremendously in providing me with the support I need for Jihad."
In the same entry describing his pursuit of the scholarship, which he did obtain, he allegedly wrote, "And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad."
The affidavit claims Aldawsari also created a blog where he posted radical messages. One post allegedly written by the Saudi said, "You who created mankind ... grant me martyrdom for Your sake and make jihad easy for me only in Your path."
The alleged plot came to the attention of authorities after a chemical supplier reported a suspicious purchase of a chemical, concentrated phenol, which has legitimate uses but can also can be used to make the explosive trinitrophenol, known as picric acid, the DOJ statement said. Aldawsari allegedly told the supplier that he was affiliated with a university and needed the item for "off-campus, personal research."
His behavior roused the company's suspicions, so staff called the police. Apparently frustrated with some snafus during the ordering process, Aldawsari allegedly canceled the order and researched ways to make the explosive component on his own.
Aldawsari is due to make his initial court appearance in Lubbock on Friday morning. If convicted for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, he could face a maximum $250,000 fine and a sentence of life in prison.