Posted 4/12/2005 10

By Toni Locy, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — An alleged al-Qaeda operative who authorities say scouted potential terrorism targets in the USA has been charged with plotting with two men to bomb five financial buildings in New York City, New Jersey and Washington, according to a federal grand jury indictment made public Tuesday.

The three men, led by Dhiren Barot, 32, whose numerous aliases include Abu Eisa al-Hindi, have been in custody since August in Great Britain, where they also face terrorism charges. Their arrests — along with those of a half-dozen others across the United Kingdom — came after a series of arrests in Pakistan earlier in the summer, one of which yielded a laptop computer that contained surveillance reports on the U.S. financial buildings.

The arrests overseas led U.S. officials to raise the terror alert level for the financial sectors in New York City, Newark, N.J., and Washington until November. The arrests also heightened concerns that al-Qaeda was planning to attack the USA in the weeks leading up to the presidential election on Nov. 2.

The indictment, issued in New York, alleges that Barot is a former al-Qaeda training camp instructor who applied to a college in New York as cover for his "true purpose" of conducting surveillance on the financial institutions in 2000 and 2001. The grand jury said Barot never enrolled or attended any classes. (Related: FindLaw indictiment)

"They are indicted here and whether or not they actually ever are extradicted here I guess is a matter of discussion," said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "But I think it's important, both substantively and symbolically important, that you come here, you do this type of surveillance, we're not going to forget."

Barot, Nadeem Tarmohamed, 26, and Qaisar Shaffi, 25, were charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction — bombs — to damage and destroy buildings used in interstate and foreign commerce. They also were charged with conspiring to provide and conceal material support to terrorists.

Barot allegedly wrote detailed surveillance reports on security and other activities at the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup Centre in New York; Prudential's headquarters in Newark; and the International Monetary Fund office and World Bank in Washington.

Alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed — who was captured in Pakistan in 2003 — told U.S. interrogators that Osama bin Laden sent Barot to the USA in early 2001 "to case potential economic and 'Jewish' targets in New York City," said the report by the 9/11 Commission, the independent panel that investigated the deadly hijacking attacks on the USA.

The three were taken into British custody after a series of arrests that began last June in Pakistan with the capture of Mussad Aruchi, a nephew of Mohammed. Aruchi's arrest led to the capture of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan in Lahore on July 13. Khan, an alleged computer expert for al-Qaeda, had the laptop that contained the files that led to the terror alert here.

Barot, 32, was charged there with possessing reconnaissance plans for the U.S. institutions and notebooks containing information on explosives, poisons, chemicals and related matters "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism."

The U.S. intends to seek their extradition once the British prosecutions are completed, Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said.