FBI: DC Sting Ended Before Suspect Could Flee US

WASHINGTON (Oct. 28) -- The FBI decided to end its sting and arrest a Northern Virginia man now charged with plotting to blow up D.C. -area subway stations because it was concerned he was about to leave the country to go on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, according to a court document and law enforcement sources.

FBI agents arrested Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Ashburn, Va., on Wednesday on charges that he conspired with people he thought were al-Qaida operatives to blow up the Arlington National Cemetery, Pentagon City, Crystal City and Court House subway stations in Northern Virginia.

In some other cases involving stings, the FBI let the plot play out more. In Dallas, for example, FBI agents in 2009 actually provided fake explosives to Hosam Smadi, who drove a car bomb to a skyscraper downtown and tried detonating it.

In September 2009, FBI agents posing as low-level al-Qaida operatives provided Michael C. Finton -- aka Talib Islam -- with fake explosives in a van that he allegedly tried detonating in front of the Paul Findley Federal Building in Springfield, Ill.

In this latest case, Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, met with undercover FBI agents and FBI operatives over the past several months and provided video and diagrams of subway stops and conducted surveillance, authorities said. He also advised when the best time was to kill the maximum people, but never came close to carrying out the plot, investigators said.

The FBI recorded and videotaped conversations, some which took place in hotels in Northern Virginia, according to an affidavit by FBI agent Charles A. Davoub.

"Ahmed described entrances and general layouts of the stations, and stated that between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. would be the best time to stage an attack to cause the highest number of casualties," the affidavit said.

The affidavit said Ahmed also provided sketches and written diagrams of each Metrorail station on three small pieces of paper and "provided suggestions on where to place explosives at each location to kill the most people."

But before the plot, which was supposed to take place in January, could go further, FBI agents ended the sting.

The FBI affidavit said Ahmed planned to carry out the plot "after he completed the Hajj pilgrimage in November 2010" in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Law enforcement sources said the FBI was concerned it might lose Ahmed, and that he might hook up with real terrorists and carry out a terrorist act.

The FBI affidavit said the agency first learned in January that Ahmed and an associate were inquiring about contacting "a terrorist organization in order to participate in jihad by traveling overseas to fight coalition forces in Afghanistan and/or Pakistan."

The recent FBI terrorist stings have proved successful. In Texas, Smadi was sentenced earlier this month to 24 years in prison for trying to blow up the downtown Dallas skyscraper. Finton is awaiting trial in the FBI sting in Illinois' capital.

Roscoe Howard Jr., a former U.S.attorney for the District of Columbia, says authorities' decision to pull the plug early on the sting may not matter in Ahmed's case.

Howard, a D.C. attorney with the law firm Andrews Kurth, said there's no hard and fast rule on when to end something, so long as the prosecution can prove there was intent to commit a terrorist act.

"You look at what point you're certain this is what the person wanted to do," he said.

Ahmed's neighbors were shocked to learn of the alleged plot.

Kristine Videgar, who lives just across the back alley from where authorities arrested Ahmed, told AOL's Patch.com she had only recently moved back to the United States after living in Manila and Jakarta.

"We just moved back to America in April," she said, noting the irony. "Then we come back to Ashburn and we live across the street from someone who is a supposed terrorist."

Rebeka Burns, 16, a Stone Bridge High School student who lives across the street on the same block as Ahmed's residence, told Patch that the news makes the threat of terrorism seem much more frightening.

"It never happened near me. I never thought it was real," she said, adding that she did not live in the area during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which happened when she was 8. "Now I look at things so differently."