Another terrorist suspect arrested in Dallas

By Associated Press

CHICAGO - Federal prosecutors arrested a 19-year-old Jordanian national and charged him with trying to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He was the second suspect to be arrested this week on charges they intended to blow up buildings.

According to a statement issued today by the U.S. attorney's office in Dallas, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

He was arrested Thursday after placing a decoy car bomb at Fountain Place, a 60-story glass office tower in Dallas.

FBI agents have been keeping watch over the man, who lived in the small North Texas town of Italy. Court documents did not show whether Smadi had an attorney.

In earlier developments, a 29-year-old Illinois man who idolized American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh was arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse, officials said.

It was unknown whether the two were involved in plot or if they had worked in conjunction.

Michael C. Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested Wednesday and charged in a criminal complaint with one count of attempting to murder federal officers or employees and trying to detonate a weapon of mass destruction. Federal officials said the case has no connections with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York.

"This alleged plot drives home the stark reality that we must avoid complacency and remain ever vigilant to the threats that violent extremists may pose to the public safety," Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Lang said.

Finton appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron G. Cudmore in Springfield and said he was an unmarried, part-time cook at a fish and chicken restaurant in the central Illinois city of Decatur. He was ordered held in jail pending action by a grand jury.

An FBI affidavit said that in the months leading up to the arrest, Finton had been closely monitored by agents including a special officer who posed as a low-level operative of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network.

It said Finton was arrested after using a cell phone in an attempt to detonate a van filled with material that he had been told was explosive but was actually harmless. It was not immediately clear what the material was.

The affidavit traced two years of activities by Finton leading up to the alleged bomb plot and arrest. It said that in March 2008 Finton received funds from Saudi Arabia and used them to travel to the kingdom for a monthlong visit. No other details were immediately available.

Finton was introduced to the FBI special officer posing as an al-Qaida operative in February, according to the affidavit.

Finton expressed a desire to receive military training and fight in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia or elsewhere, agents said. In the months that followed, he talked about an attack within the United States and ultimately settled on the Paul Findley courthouse.

He also took an interest in the nearby office of Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock as well, the affidavit said.

The maximum penalty for attempted murder of federal officers and detonation of a weapon of mass destruction is life in prison.

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