Four Men Charged in US Terror Plot

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

© flickr.com/ popculturegeek.com

CALIFORNIA (RIA Novosti) - Four men from the western US state of California, including one who served in the Air Force, have been charged in a terror plot the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says was designed to bomb US government facilities overseas and kill Americans.

A federal complaint unsealed late Monday charges that the four men planned to join al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and then engage in “violent jihad,” according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

The complaint says the plot began with 34-year-old Sohiel Omar Kabir, a naturalized US citizen who was born in Afghanistan and served in the Air Force in 2000 and 2001, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities claim he introduced two of the suspects, 23-year-old Ralph Deleon and 21-year-old Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, to radical Islamist doctrine after they converted to Islam in 2010, and they later recruited a fourth suspect, 21-year-old Arifeen David Gojali.

The three recruits allegedly discussed their plans for jihad in online discussions and Skype calls with Kabir in Afghanistan, and on at least two occasions went to shooting ranges in California where one of the men reportedly told a confidential source he wanted to use C-4 explosives in a truck to blow up a US military base.

The FBI says the three men and the confidential source bought tickets and planned to depart on the first leg of their journey on Sunday.

They remain in custody in California. Kabir is being held in Afghanistan. They each face up to 15 years in federal prison.