U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT: Ohio Trucker Admits to Terror Ties

Thursday, June 19, 2003

(4:13 PM ET) (20:13 GMT)
The Cable News Network

Faris also performed research on obtaining derailing equipment to wreak havoc on U.S. railways and gas cutters to sever cables on a New York bridge. He performed surveillance on the New York bridge, determined security was too tight at the site to succeed and sent a coded e-mail message to al Qaeda to relay that assessment.

WASHINGTON -- CNN
An Ohio truck driver, reportedly part of a plot to bring down New York's Brooklyn Bridge, has agreed to plead guilty to providing material support to a terrorist organization, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday.

Ashcroft said Iyman Faris "appeared to be a hard-working truck driver" but traveled to Pakistan, met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and "joined al Qaeda's jihad against America."

Under the plea agreement, Faris will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization, according to documents unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

The charges together carry as much as 20 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines.

Al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is in U.S. custody, told interrogators that Faris was ordered to perform surveillance of the Brooklyn Bridge with the ultimate goal of cutting its cables, sources told CNN.
(More: CNN.com)

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Dan