JOIN USFour men have been charged with plotting to kill Americans and destroy US targets overseas by joining al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, federal officials revealed.
The defendants, including a man who served in the US Air Force, were arrested for plotting to bomb military bases and government facilities, and for planning to engage in “violent jihad,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a release on Monday.
A federal complaint unsealed Monday says 34-year-old Sohiel Omar Kabir of Pomona introduced two of the other men to the radical Islamist doctrine of Anwar al-Awlaki, a deceased al-Qaida leader. Kabir served in the Air Force from 2000 to 2001.
The other two, 23-year-old Ralph Deleon and 21-year-old Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidrialesâ, converted to Islam in 2010 and began engaging with Kabir and others online in discussions about jihad, including posting radical content to Facebook and expressing extremist views in comments.
They later recruited 21-year-old Arifeen David Gojali. Kabir is a naturalized US citizen who was born in Afghanistan. Santana was born in Mexico, while Deleon was born in the Philippines. Both are lawful, permanent US residents. Gojali is a US citizen.
In Upland, 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, Santana’s apartment was shuttered on Tuesday, but as reporters gathered nearby someone stealthily removed a sign that read