Seven people were arrested in Miami for plotting to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago.
After an operation that started about four months ago, the FBI has arrested several suspects of domestic terrorism in a Miami low-income housing project.
The arrests took place Thursday afternoon at the Scott Housing Projects in the area of NW 68th street and 15th Avenue. Miami Police officers were seen in the area securing a perimeter for the FBI to carry out their arrests.
Sources tell CBS4 News it is unclear whether weapons or bomb-making materials were found, but those detained are suspected of being involved in planning terrorist activity.
Neighbors say suspicious activity had been observed at the home recently.
This is a developing story and agents have flooded the area.
According to Fox News Channel, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will have a press conference tomorrow morning at 10:30am.
From ABC News:
ABC News has learned that federal agents, including the FBI, are launching a series of raids tonight targeting a suspected terror cell based in Miami.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, the group allegedly planned to bomb the FBI building in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago.
The group has been under surveillance for some time and was infiltrated by a government informant who allegedly led them to believe he was an Islamic radical. The suspects are described as African Americans and at least one man of Caribbean descent.
Sources say the arrests reflect the government’s concern about so-called “homegrown terrorists.” It’s a threat FBI Director Robert Mueller discussed during a recent speech in New York.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the FBI are expected to hold a press conference about the arrests Friday morning.
Hat tip: Hot Air
Update: According to the AP, these homegrown terrorists have “given their lives to Allah”:
Residents living near the warehouse said the men taken into custody described themselves as Mulims and had tried to recruit young people to join their group, which seemed militaristic.
The residents said FBI agents spent several hours in the neighborhood showing photos of the suspects and seeking information. They said the men had lived in the area about a year.
The men slept in the warehouse, said Tashawn Rose, 29. “They would come out late at night and exercise. It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard.”
She talked to one of the men about a month ago: “They seemed brainwashed. They said they had given their lives to Allah.”
Rose said the men tried to recruit her younger brother and nephew for a karate class.
“It was weird,” she said.
Update II: Ed Morrissey was watching FBI Director Robert Mueller on Larry King when the news broke.
Update III: More from Reuters:
The FBI arrested seven people in the past two days suspected of planning attacks on FBI offices and a federal building in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago, a law enforcement source said on Thursday.
The source, elaborating on a statement on the operation from Florida authorities, said the suspects had thought they were dealing with the international al Qaeda group but had been infiltrated by a U.S. government informant.
“In the past couple of days, the U.S. government has taken into custody seven people who were conspiring to conduct jihad (holy war) in the United States,” the law enforcement source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They thought they were dealing with al Qaeda,” the source said, adding the suspects had been trying to buy weapons and other things needed to carry out attacks.
The source said the government had an informant with whom the suspected conspirators had discussed their plans. “There was no immediate threat because we were in on the discussions.” the source said.
Update IV: Dan Riehl has the satelite photos of the warehouse that was raided.
Update V: Allahpundit has the Kossack and DU reaction, which is quickly spiraling into a lot of wacked-out moonbattiness.
Update VI: The Sears Tower has released a statement.
Update VII: CNN reports that these suspects are al Qaeda wannabes In fact, one of the suspects took an al Qaeda oath:
Law enforcement sources told CNN that some of the suspects are members of a radical African-American Muslim group and that at least one had taken “an al Qaeda oath.” They had carried out surveillance on the Sears Tower and FBI building in Miami, the sources said.
Update: VIII: Michelle Malkin notes the trend in the black jihadi movement.
Update IX: The Miami Herald reports that 15-20 men were involved.
The Sears Tower for crying out loud!
thats scary,there must be 20,000 people that work there. thank god they got caught.
I’m sure it’ll take the media weeks to find a common thread. These fine, misunderstood individuals are doubtlessly from a broad strata of society.
Well, as a Chicagoan I for one am glad we’re fighting them here, as well as there. Kudos to the Feds.
I don’t know if any of you listened to Judge Napalitono this morning but he just got back from Gitmo and has done a 180 on his view….he said everyone there has visited over 30 cities in the US, as in visiting cells there!!!
Im not surprised, this is such a big wide open free country that these type of people are undoubtedly all over the place. scary indeed if some of these people get their hands on a nuclear device.
i wonder why they chose the sears tower (aside from it being a tall landmark)? is it particularly unguarded? i would think not. is it susceptible to a car bomb? i wonder what the details of their plan were?
Keep up the good work, Feds!
according to msnbc’s summary (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13491653/), one might infer these are black amrican muslims, like nation of islam types … i guess the stereotype of white back country militias/white supremacists is no longer as typical … assuming my inference is correct.
After 911 I hope it would not be susceptible to a car bomb?
Anyway one of the suspects took the al quaeda oath whatever that is? it cant be good.
I live in Miami. I’m both freaked out and relieved they were caught. I am not, however, surprised. This city is so lawless and teeming with violence the scary thing is that there are probably others.
They were arrested in the ‘hood’, which will probably make the Cuban community here even more hateful of African Americans.
i wonder why they chose the sears tower (aside from it being a tall landmark)? is it particularly unguarded? i would think not. is it susceptible to a car bomb? i wonder what the details of their plan were?
The tower is well guarded, and there is no parking underneath, so I doubt a car bomb would do it. But remember the plan to take down the Brooklyn Bridge with blowtorches? It may be another case of that kind of half-baked threat, we’ll have to wait for details of course. It is surprising that they would go after another high profile building, as if we’re not on the lookout for that.
I would like to hear what these fools had in mind for the Sears. The way it’s built it would stay standing if someone flew an airplane into it. I think there are 116 columns that make up its “bundled tube” structure, and unlike the wtc, all of the steel is coated with fireproofing, after all it was the fires that brought down the towers in NY.
You can’t get too near the thing on the ground either. Maybe they were just interested in it for it’s status as an icon/ big city/ killing lots of people in one place at one time.
Maybe its a lead up to a future attack? you know like the 93 trade center bombing. they saw how futile a thousand pounds of explosives were so the decided to try something bigger.
I wonder if any of these suspects were attending flight school in southern Florida? will be interesting to find out.
The peacefull Black Muslim!!!
I wonder if they had not been caught whether they would have succeeded. I am glad that they were caught but I hope the security at the Sears Tower is reviewed and perhaps revamped.
Funny, how we didn’t have to worry about such things before Bush became president and since he became president we now have to worry about terrorists in our own backyard.
How long until John F. Kerry says this terror plot was the innevitable result of Bush angering Muslims by invading Iraq?
Hello, mfalk, hello?
since he became president we now have to worry about terrorists in our own backyard.
Are you serious?
JB
You just said it! haha
Mfalk
You did’nt just say that!
mfalk: “Funny, how we didn’t have to worry about such things before Bush became president and since he became president we now have to worry about terrorists in our own backyard.”
Excellent point!
Under Clinton WE DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT THEM!! Of course they came within a few feet of destroying the Twin Towers in 1993…but WE DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT THEM!!
They assembled the ENTIRE PLOT that eventually DID bring down the Twin Towers while Clinton was President but…WE DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT THEM!
Damn…not worrying was NICE!
mfalk, you must have a really short memory. Does the 1993 WTC bombing mean nothing to you?
Justrand,
The plot was not assembled when Clinton was Pres – they took their flight lessons during Bush 2’s administration – the FBI and CIA failed to respond to their own agent’s concern! Condi Rice had information, which she conveyed to Bush that Bin Laden’s group was planning an assault by air. This is all in the public record.
Clinton bombed the Al Queda training camp, and was chastised by the Republican Congress for it.
Forget about Clinton – Bush 2, the unelected president, is an incompetent nincompoop, and you know it, too.
Larry
I live in Miami also. These terrorists had to be pretty tough, if they survived Liberty City. Baghdad has nothing on Liberty City. That’s about as run-down a crime-infested dump as you will ever find.
Larry,
It was, and still is an American problem as opposed to a Republican problem.
Do you really think that these assholes waited until a Republican was President? Please!
I’m sorry everyone – I can’t help it. Feeding the liberal trolls that is, it’s just sickening to remain silent about this bullshit anymore.
Ahhh Larry ish! thats My Dads name, but were all beyond that now!
Where did Clitloris,s bombing of a known Al quaeda training camp take place?
Pick one: Somalia?
Mogadishu?
Burmese? known for pussy cat tails.
Niger? Joe Wilsons fabled hang out.
None of the above?
And what did it accomplish?
pick one because of time constraints.
The end of the world as We know it.
More nookie in the “Oval orifice”?
Hillary CARE.
911
The AlgoreTippergore liplock
A blue stained dress?
You dont have to answer cause this was purely for entertainment value! thanx for the brief interlude from reality.
I’m sorry – that last comment ^ was unfair. Larry couldn’t possibly reflect any rational American liberals’ thoughts about this topic, right?
As far as I know, Larry could be a Canadian liberal, perhaps, but he’s still wrong.
It’s up to the personalities who read this blog from the left to discount that idea first, I suppose.
Ah c’mon. We all know this was a Rove entrapment scheme to bolster Bush’s poll per centages. I mean really, home grown terrorists blowing up a Federal Building or the Sears Tower. What malarkey!
/sarcaster off
Larry: “The plot was not assembled when Clinton was Pres – they took their flight lessons during Bush 2’s administration”
Look, Sport, Atta and his moronic buddies were in the U.S. from 1999 ON. (Atta even earlier by all accounts). Most of the logistical planning, and a good bit of the flight training occured WELL BEFORE Bush was inaugurated.
BUT, as was said up above, it is an AMERICAN problem…not a question of which party is in power. So when mfalk says “we didn’t have to worry about such things before Bush became president” it is simply a stoooopid statement.
Two American soldiers were butchered the other day. The assholes who did that would LOVE to butcher our schoolchildren (ala Breslan) if they could. In fact they would love to wallow in the blood of EVERY American.
We kill THEM, or they kill US. That’s it.
This is all bullshit. Wannabes that for sure are being sponsored thru invisible wires by the right wing.
You, above me, you forgot to mention you’re being sarcastic…right???
When is Jessee Jackson scheduled to arrive in Miami?
914 in her screed seems to be obsessed with sexual activity in the Clinton adminstration that didn’t involve her.
Good luck, next time 914.
Larry
Mfalk — that must have been sarcasam, but somehow I missed it.
This country was attacked how many times by terrorists: Lets see…1993 WTC, the attack on the USS Cole, the embassies in Africa…I could go on…I beleive the number was 9…9 attacks on the US and its interests in the 8 years of Clinton’s presidency.
As for home grown terrorists, lets see, Oklahoma City ring a bell.
Get a clue!
For a far more reasonable perspective, gah, the story has changed since I read it already from CBS.
“Law enforcement officials say their plans were ‘pretty much all talk’ and that agents ‘were on top of them.’ No weapons or explosive devices were found in the warehouse and federal officials say the men posed ‘no immediate threat.'”
Hmm. No immediate threat, then why did they bust them today? Just asking.
In fact, they didn’t know anyone in Al-Qaeda. The only al-Qaeda they knew was the US infiltrator who administered the oath.
Great.
Larry
It was simply a well known parody in which You could vent Your obvious liberal biase’s
Oh no, their mostly Afro American? now that really complicates things..taboo.
Law enforcement officials say their plans were “pretty much all talk” and that agents “were on top of them.” No weapons or explosive devices were found in the warehouse and federal officials say the men posed “no immediate threat.”
Did they have blowtorches? They could cut down the buildings with blowtorches! Well, at least our homegrown terrorists are more inept than Britain’s.
The point of arresting them now, before they made their bombs, was to get them off the street before they were an imminent threat.
As soon as they had all their toys, they were going to use them.
Caught by the Department of Homey Security.