Federal authorities have arrested a man in Georgia who they are accusing of plotting to attack several prominent locations in Washington, D.C., including the White House.
Hasher Jallal Taheb had been under investigation by the FBI as part of a sting operation after local authorities reported concerns about him becoming radicalized last March, according to a criminal complaint filed in the federal court in the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta on Wednesday.
A member of the community had reported to local law enforcement that Taheb had “become radicalized, changed his name and made plans to travel abroad,” the complaint states.
Taheb applied for a U.S. passport in July, stating that he had misplaced his previous one, and in August he put his vehicle up for sale, telling an FBI informant who expressed interest in buying it that he was selling the car to fund his travel overseas, according to the complaint.
Taheb told the FBI informant in October during a meeting in Cumming, Georgia, that he “wished to conduct an attack in the United States against targets such as the White House and the Statue of Liberty,” the document states. Taheb allegedly told the informant that “jihad was the best deed in Islam and the peak of Islam,” adding that “it was not complicated at all to do jihad today,” according to the complaint.
In a meeting with the informant and an undercover FBI agent on Dec. 2, Taheb allegedly stated that “they could do more damage” in the U.S. because abroad they would be “one of many.” He also allegedly said that he wanted to be a “martyr” and cause as much damage as possible, the complaint states. – READ MORE