Hmm… So that’s where the training camps went when the ones in Afghanistan were reduced to rubble. You can knock me over with a feather.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI has arrested two California men after one of them admitted he attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, Justice Department officials said on Wednesday.
Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer, of Lodi, California, east of San Francisco, were taken into custody over the weekend. Both men are being held on charges of lying to federal authorities.
Two other men were arrested in Lodi for violating terms of their visas, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd.
The men have been identified as Muhammad Adil Khan – an imam at Farooqia Islamic Center – and Shabbir Ahmed, who is also an imam in Lodi, an administration source said.
According to an FBI affidavit, Hamid Hayat told agents he attended al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004.
“Hamid advised that he specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his jihad mission,” according to the affidavit. “Potential targets for attack would include hospitals and large food stores.”
Hamid Hayat told agents the camp provided paramilitary training, including training in explosives and hand-to-hand combat, the affidavit said. During weapons training, photos of high-ranking U.S. political figures, including President Bush, were pasted onto targets, according to the affidavit.
“Hamid further stated that he and others at the camp were being trained on how to kill Americans,” the affidavit said.
Hamid, whose U.S.-bound flight from Korea was diverted on May 29 to Japan because his name appeared on a no-fly list, had originally denied any involvement in terrorism.
After the plane was diverted, Hamid was interviewed by an FBI agent, the affidavit said. Hamid denied having any connection to terrorism or terrorist activities and was allowed to continue his travel to the United States, it said.
Upon his arrival in California, Hamid again denied being involved in training camps.
One day later, after taking a lie detector test, Hamid admitted that he had attended an al Qaeda training camp, the affidavit said.
Hamid’s father, Umer, had originally denied that his son was involved in terrorist training camps and had said he knew of no such camps in Pakistan.
After he was shown a videotape of his son admitting that he trained at the camp, Umer said he had visited the camps and had paid for Hamid’s flight to Pakistan to attend the training camp.
