Homeland Security

DATE=08/28/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=TERROR/INDICTMENT (L/S)

NUMBER=2-293480

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A federal grand jury in Detroit (Michigan) has indicted five Muslim men of Middle Eastern origin on charges of conspiring to support to terrorist attacks in the United States and in Jordan and Turkey. Correspondent Nick Simeone reports on an on-going investigating into an alleged terrorist plot.

TEXT: Those named in this four count indictment are accused of helping launch a holy war inspired by Osama bin Laden -- against the United States and countries considered insufficiently Islamic including U-S allies Jordan and Turkey.

Alleged targets included the U-S airbase at Incerlik, Turkey and a hospital in Amman, Jordan, two locations which prosecutors say were mentioned in a calendar found in the Michigan apartment shared by some of the defendants. Prosecutors also say they recovered video and audio tapes in which those charged appear to be surveilling key American landmarks for possible attack, including Disneyland in California and top hotels in Las Vegas.

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A grand jury found evidence that the men conspired with others unnamed across Europe to create false passports and other documents so they could bring like-minded conspirators into the United States. The five are also accused of obtaining stolen credit cards, as well as weapons and expertise in airport security and to help carry out plans for what the indictment calls a global jihad (Holy war).

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All five were arrested in the American midwest months ago after a raid on their apartment uncovered documents implicating them in planning terrorism including an attack on former U-S Defense Secretary William Cohen. This indictment does not spell out why prosecutors think he may have been a target.(SIGNED)

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