On June 5, 2010, in a covert American anti-terrorism operation named "Operation Arabian Knight", two American citizens Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos "Omar" Eduardo Almonte,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

residents, were arrested at

Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...

in New York City. The men were in the process of boarding booked, separate flights to Egypt. According to the affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, they planned to travel to

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

to join Al-Shabab, an

Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

-linked terrorist group recruiting foreigners for its civil war.Anti-Defamation League
“New Jersey Residents Arrested for Attempting to Join Somali-Based Terrorist Group”
June 7, 2010 They intended to join them in killing American troops in Somalia, although few Americans are stationed there. The two men were charged with conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap people outside the U.S. The arrests followed that of the American

Faisal Shahzad Faisal Shahzad ( ur, ; born , 1979) is a Pakistani-American citizen who was arrested for the attempted May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing. On , 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bo ...

, characterized as a home-grown terrorist and charged in the failed Times Square bombing. The two men were denied bail, and a preliminary hearing was set for June 21 on the federal charges. On October 18, 2010, a federal judge gave their lawyers time to "attempt to finalize a

plea agreement A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

Investigation

The covert investigation of the two, known as "Operation Arabian Knight", had begun in October 2006 as two separate probes after the FBI and New Jersey State Homeland Security detectives received separate tips about the two men. The agents named the operation after a reference in Alessa's computer records, in which he had said he and Almonte were "Arabian knights." The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved physical surveillance of the two men.

Arrests

The two men checked in at John F. Kennedy International Airport and were preparing to board separate connecting flights to Cairo, Egypt, one the 6:30 p.m. Boeing 777 flight on

Egyptair Egyptair (Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-A ...

Flight 986 out of Terminal 4, the other a 9:55 p.m. Boeing 767 flight on

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

Flight 84 out of Terminal 3. From there they planned to travel to Somalia by boat, to join Al-Shabab. The terminals, however, had a number of FBI agents and other members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force dressed as travelers. Law enforcement officers allowed the men to get into the jetway boarding ramps before arresting them. Federal prosecutors had insisted that the men be allowed to go to the airport, and begin the boarding process, to limit the chance they could later say they had abandoned their plans. This also enabled the FBI agents to hear any last-minute phone calls the men might make before boarding their flights. Authorities arranged the arrests to take place out of sight of other passengers, to avoid panic. Authorities decided that the best place for each arrest would be at the end of the jetway, by the emergency door, and that cars would await the agents and suspects below. As each suspect walked down the passageway from the gate to the plane, passengers behind him were held up. Out of sight of those on the plane and those waiting to board, each was confronted by federal agents. Alessa put up a fight, was pushed into a jetway wall, and suffered a red welt on his left temple and cuts on his face before he was handcuffed. Agents took him down the outside stairs to a waiting security car, and transported him to their facility. The 220-pound Almonte also reportedly resisted arrest, but was similarly apprehended. The

Joint Terrorism Task Force In the United States, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) are locally-based multi-agency partnerships between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism and terrorism-related crimes, led by the ...

(JTTF) coordinated the arrests. JTTF agents were in place near the suspects' New Jersey homes before the arrests. As soon as the men were taken into custody, dozens of agents raided the two homes, taking away boxes of evidence. Federal counterterrorism officials said the investigation was ongoing, and that more arrests were anticipated.

Suspects

The parents have characterized the men as "troublemakers" and school records of them document a history of behavioral problems, threats and violence.

Mohamed Mahmood Alessa

Alessa was born in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.North Bergen, New Jersey North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a ...

, and was 20 years old at the time of his arrest. After the

September 11, 2001, attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

when other families on his block displayed

American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...

s, his home hung a

Palestinian flag The flag of Palestine ( ar, علم فلسطين) is a tricolor of three equal horizontal stripes (black, white, and green from top to bottom) overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. This flag is derived from the Pan-Arab colors and ...

. A neighbor, Luis Lainez, said: "not ... very patriotic, that puts up a red flag at the end of the day." Alessa reportedly began to tell other children in his

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

troop that

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

was a hero in his family, and that he wanted to grow up to be a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. When other boys and their parents complained, he was asked to leave the group. As a teenager, he began to spend time with a gang who called themselves the P.L.O., after the Palestinian group, or the Arabian Knights. Alessa's parents sent him for the ninth grade to the Al-Huda High School, a private Islamic religious high school in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. He transferred to

North Bergen High School North Bergen High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade from North Bergen, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the North Bergen School District. Th ...

in December 2004. Within three months, he was placed on administrative "home instruction," to be supervised by a security officer, because of "radicalized behavior that was very threatening," according to a school spokesman. In September 2005, he transferred to KAS Prep, an alternative high school for troubled youth in North Bergen, which he attended for one semester. He returned to North Bergen High School in March 2006. The school officials soon placed him on home instruction supervised by a security officer. Through 2005 and 2006, officials of both North Bergen and KAS Prep alerted the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

about Alessa's escalating series of threats. The Islamic Center of East Orange asked for and received his transcript in October 2007, but it is not clear whether he attended the school. Alessa attended

Bergen Community College Bergen Community College is a public community college in Bergen County, New Jersey. It was founded in 1965 and opened in 1968. , it is the largest community college in the state, with sites in Paramus, Hackensack, and Lyndhurst and 13,352 stu ...

from the Spring of 2009 through the Spring of 2010. Officials at several schools described him as violent. Neighbors thought he was an observant Muslim, though one said he had seen Alessa drink alcohol, which is prohibited. While his beard was generally long, Alessa occasionally shaved it off, according to the neighbor. His landlord said Alessa had visited Jordan about two years prior to his arrest, for six months. Alessa reportedly said: "They only fear you when you have a gun and when you — when you start killing them, and when you — when you take their head, and you go like this, and you behead it on camera." He discussed carrying out a

suicide bombing A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

in the U.S., stating the "only way I would come back here is if I was in the land of ''jihad'' and the leader ordered me to come back here and do something here." He allegedly would brandish a large knife and boast to family members about killing U.S. agents. Speaking of

Nidal Malik Hasan Nidal (in Arabic نضال meaning warrior in Arabic) is a given name in Arabic. It may refer to: *Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar (born 1956), Syrian politician and government minister *Abou Nidal, Côte d'Ivoirian singer *Umm Nidal (1948–2013), Palestin ...

, the US Army psychiatrist who killed 13 Americans at

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters ...

in 2009, Alessa said he would outdo him. According to court documents, he said: "A lot of people need to get killed, bro. Swear to God.... My soul cannot rest until I shed blood. I wanna, like, be the world's estknown terrorist." His mother said in his defense that "he's not a terrorist; he's a stupid kid."

Carlos "Omar" Eduardo Almonte

Almonte was born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

and came to the US with his family when he was five. He is a naturalized citizen, with joint U.S.-Dominican citizenship. He was 24 years old at the time of his arrest, and lived in

Elmwood Park, New Jersey Elmwood Park is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, and is a bedroom community, bedroom suburb located from New York City. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's ...

. He had graduated from

Elmwood Park Memorial High School Elmwood Park Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Elmwood Park, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of t ...

in 2005. While in high school, he was arrested in 2004 both for

aggravated assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

, and for weapons possession. After growing up as a Christian, Almonte converted to Islam in 2004 (against the wishes of his father), and visited mosques in Paterson, and

Union City, New Jersey Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589, He renamed himself "Omar", and met Alessa in 2005. In March 2007, the FBI conducted a consensual search of his computer, which contained documents advocating ''jihad''. His father was so disgusted with his son Carlos that he did not go to Almonte's hearing, saying: "I'm not supporting anybody that does something wrong."

"Death to all Juice"

Almonte had posted a photo on his Facebook page, holding a large placard that read, "Death to all Juice"(sic), which he displayed at the 2008 Israel Day Parade in New York City. At the time of its public release, the photo sparked a debate over whether the man was an illiterate

anti-Semite Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, or a pro-Israel plant trying to make the protesters appear to be illiterate anti-Semites. A supervisor at a New Jersey computer shop at which Almonte worked for more than a year said: "I'm telling you, this kid is not smart." Pamela Hall, a NYC blogger, took a picture of Carlos Almonte on December 28, 2008, outside the Israeli Consulate in NYC. It was at the end of an anti-Israel protest march that started at Fifth Avenue and 50th street.

Collective activities

The two lived apart in New Jersey. They had been under FBI scrutiny since October 2006, when Alessa was still a teenager. A New York Police Department undercover officer recorded their discussions of their plans at a number of meetings. The two reportedly traveled to

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

in February 2007, where they tried without success to enter Iraq. According to Almonte, they tried unsuccessfully to become

mujahedeen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...

to fight against U.S. troops, and were "upset with the individuals who failed to recruit them". According to the criminal complaint, they had practiced simulated combat at an outdoor

paintball Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy ai ...

facility in

West Milford, New Jersey West Milford is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 25,850, reflecting a decline of 560 (−2.1%) from the 26,410 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in ...

. They had also engaged in tactical training, trained in hand-to-hand combat, and acquired military gear and combat apparel. Prosecutors noted that the 11 men convicted in the

Virginia Jihad Network The Virginia jihad network was a group of young men centered in Northern Virginia that were accused of conspiring to train and participate in violence overseas. The men, Muhammed Aatique, Hammad Abdur-Raheem, Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi, Seifullah Chapm ...

had also used paintball training to simulate small-unit tactical operations. Officials noted that five Muslims later convicted of a plot to kill American soldiers at

Fort Dix, New Jersey Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...

had also done paintball training. Alessa and Almonte were followers of the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS), a radical Islamist group based in New York that often holds joint events with

Revolution Muslim Revolution Muslim (RM) was an organization based in New York City that advocated the establishment of a traditionalist Islamic state through the removal of the current rulers in Muslim-majority nations and an end to what they consider "Western imper ...

. Both groups are offshoots of

Al Muhajiroun Al-Muhajiroun ( ar, المهاجرون, "The Emigrants") is a proscribed militant network based in Saudi Arabia. The founder of the group was Omar Bakri Muhammad, a Syrian who previously belonged to ''Hizb ut-Tahrir''; he was not permitted to re ...

, a pro-

al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

British Islamist extremist group. CNN posted a photo of the two men as part of a protest in New York City, a week before their arrests, which was organized by the Islamic Thinkers Society. During an ITS protest against the Israeli Day Parade in New York in May 2010, Alessa led an anti-Jewish chant. Alessa also attended ITS and RM rallies in Washington, D.C. in March 2010. He was recorded in videos standing next to Zachary Chesser. Chesser has since been arrested and charged for trying to join Al Shabaab in Somalia. Regarding the U.S. soldiers overseas, Almonte reportedly said: "I just want the troops to come back home safely and cozily." "In body bags – in caskets," Alessa said. "In caskets," Almonte agreed. "Sliced up in a thousand pieces, cozy in the grave, in hell," added Alessa.

Possible influences

Anwar al-Awlaki sitting on couch, lightened

Authorities said the two New Jersey men had been followers of the American-born cleric,

Anwar Al-Awlaki Anwar Nasser al-Awlaki (also spelled al-Aulaqi, al-Awlaqi; ar, أنور العولقي, Anwar al-‘Awlaqī; April 21 or 22, 1971 – September 30, 2011) was an American imam who was killed in 2011 in Yemen by a U.S. government drone stri ...

, known for increasing radicalism after 2006. The men were known to have watched video and audio recordings promoting violent ''jihad'', including lectures by al-Awlaki, who is suspected of inciting Muslims to violence. Almonte reportedly kept an audio recording of al-Awlaki on his cell phone, in which al-Awlaki lectured about ''jihad'' and different types of martyrs, watched a jihadist video in which al-Awlaki justified the killing of civilians in ''jihad'', and shared with others a pamphlet on ''jihad'' by al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki has praised the group, al-Shabab. Authorities said the two men were among a number of U.S. terrorism suspects inspired by al-Awlaki. He is believed to have helped inspire the

2009 Fort Hood shooting On November 5, 2009, a mass shooting took place at Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas. Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others. It was the deadliest mass shooting on an American mi ...

, the failed 2009 Christmas Day bombing, the failed 2010 Times Square bombing, and those convicted in the 2007 Fort Dix plot.

Charges and plea negotiations

The suspects were charged with conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap people outside the U.S. The same law has been used in the 2010 charging of

Colleen LaRose Colleen Renée LaRose (born June 5, 1963), also known as Jihad Jane and Fatima LaRose, is an American citizen who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for terrorism-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and providing material ...

, otherwise known as Jihad Jane. If convicted, they could each face a sentence of life in prison, and fines of up to $250,000. Federal prosecutors will reportedly seek life sentences in the case. On June 7, 2010, the men appeared before

Magistrate Judge The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

Madeline Cox Arleo in the

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Lawyers were appointed to represent them, and a bail hearing was scheduled for June 10, and a preliminary hearing for June 21 on the charges they face. On June 10, Magistrate Arleo denied the two men bail, citing the seriousness of the charges against them, the credibility of the evidence, and the risk of flight. They are being held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. On October 18, 2010, a federal judge gave their lawyers time to "attempt to finalize a

." In March 2011, they accepted a plea deal and admitted they wanted to try to join al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda-affiliated group and admitted they were part of a conspiracy to kill, maim, and kidnap.

Related charges and guilty plea

Mohamed Osman, 19 years old, of

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

, pleaded guilty on September 15, 2010, before Senior U.S. District Judge

Dickinson R. Debevoise Dickinson Richards Debevoise (April 23, 1924 – August 14, 2015) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Education and career Born on April 23, 1924, in ...

making materially false statements to members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force who were investigating Alessa and Almonte. Osman had denied knowing about the two men's plans but later admitted that was a lie. He faced a potential eight years in jail and $250,000 fine at sentencing on December 20, 2010. On June 20, 2013, Osman was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. On April 15, 2013, Mohamed Hamoud Alessa was sentenced to 22 years in prison, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Al-Shabab

When arrested, the two men had planned to join the Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Al-Shabab was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. in 2008. It has several thousand militants, and claims ideological kinship with

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

. It recruits foreigners for its civil war in Somalia, not jihad. An estimated 20 Americans have joined it, of whom a dozen have been killed in Somalia, according to their friends and families. As a result, since 2007-2008, interest among Americans in the group has declined, according to analysts. The group's Islamist ideology calls for punishments of amputations and public stonings for violations of Islamic law; their rule has been severe, prohibiting music and television, and the wearing of bras by women. Al-Shabab was also praised by

prior to his death in May 2011. Its leaders have reputedly worked closely with terrorists of al-Qaeda in Yemen and Pakistan. It is thought to have harbored al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 1998 Kenya and Tanzania U.S. embassy bombings. Sheik Abdirisaq Mohamed Qaylow, a spokesman for the Somalia Ministry of Information, welcomed the arrests of Alessa and Almonte, saying: "Foreign terrorists here are an obstacle to lasting peace in Somalia. So we welcome the move and we are calling on all governments to take such steps against al-Shabab and all terrorists at large".

Reaction

Bernard Kerik Bernard Bailey Kerik (born September 4, 1955) is an American consultant and former police officer who was the 40th Commissioner of the New York Police Department from 2000 to 2001. As a convicted felon, he obtained a presidential pardon from Pre ...

, former

New York City Police Commissioner The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department and presiding member of the Board of Commissioners. The commissioner is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the mayor. The commissioner is responsib ...

from 2000 to 2001 and

Secretary of Homeland Security The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...

nominee blogged that since 9/11, he and several others had predicted that "some of our greatest threats would eventually come from within, from home grown and naturalized citizens who were radicalized and hate this country", and that the arrests of Alessa and Almonte were an example of that.

References

External links

Criminal Complaint in ''U.S. v. Alessa''
U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, June 4, 2010
"Two New Jersey Men Arrested and Charged With Conspiring to Kill Persons Outside the United States — Defendants Allegedly Intended to Join Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization Al Shabaab"
Press Release, U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, June 6, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Operation Arabian Anwar al-Awlaki People imprisoned on charges of terrorism Islamic terrorism in New York (state) 2010 in New York City