DEL.ICIO.USEx-Tech student led terror conspiracy, prosecutors say
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
A former Georgia Tech student charged in a terrorism conspiracy was dubbed the “ameer” — the leader — of a group that planned to join a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, according to evidence entered Tuesday in federal court.
Using code words in Internet chat rooms and e-mails, Syed Haris Ahmed told his alleged co-conspirators that their top priority was to go to Pakistan or Iraq to wage jihad.
Ahmed, 24, is on trial for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism here and overseas. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
His lawyer, Jack Martin, has argued that Ahmed was an immature and confused young man who got sucked into propaganda on Internet sites espousing militant views. Ahmed merely talked big and never joined a conspiracy to support terrorism, Martin said.
But through the testimony Tuesday of FBI Special Agent James Allen, federal prosecutors showed how Ahmed coordinated plans to go to a terrorist training camp. Among members of the group were Ehsanul Islam Sadequee of Roswell, who will be tried in August; Aabib Hussein “Abu” Umar, now convicted of terrorism-related crimes in England; and members of the so-called “Toronto 18,” who face charges in Canada.
The e-mails and chats were seized by FBI agents from the computer at Ahmed’s family home in Dawsonville and from Umar’s computer when he was arrested in Great Britain.
In early 2005, the group planned to rent an apartment in Toronto as their base of operations, Allen testified. But in April 2005 e-mails and chats, Ahmed said he wanted to skip going to Toronto and go straight to Pakistan.
Ahmed e-mailed a relative in Pakistan that he wanted to upgrade from the “2nd to 3rd” level, signifying he was ready to join a training camp and wage jihad, Allen testified.
In another e-mail, Ahmed wrote, “Curry place [Pakistan] is our main area for picnic and then to spend the night at the Mountain Hills National Park [a terrorist training camp]….It must be done quick.”
Sadequee suggested the group join Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani-based terrorist group. Ahmed said he would be “glad to get with the students. Man, the students are back in full force.”
The “students,” Allen testified, was code for the Taliban.
In July 2005, Ahmed flew from Atlanta to Pakistan, where he met with Umar, who was to be Ahmed’s conduit to a terrorist training camp.
But Ahmed later told FBI agents that, after talking it over with relatives, he decided against taking that step. He soon returned to Atlanta and began taking classes once again at Georgia Tech.
Ahmed was arrested in March 2006 after giving highly incriminating statements to counter-terrorism agents. The agents had turned their attention on Ahmed after they learned that “casing videos” Ahmed and Sadequee took of Washington-area landmarks were found on the computers of Umar and Younis Tsouli, who was also later convicted of terrorist-related crimes in England.
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