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| LeT wanted VA jihadis to perform special mission inside US |
| 2004-02-19 |
| A Gaithersburg, Md., man charged with trying to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops was asked by members of a militant Islamic group to perform a special mission inside the United States, according to trial testimony yesterday. The exact nature of the mission was never fully explained, said Yong Ki Kwon, who testified for the prosecution against Masoud Khan, who is charged with conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to support Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network. Kwon, 28, a Fairfax resident, said he and Khan traveled to Pakistan in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks to train with a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is seeking to drive India from the disputed Kashmir region and was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government in December 2001. Kwon said he, Khan and several other members of what prosecutors have called a "Virginia jihad network" joined the Lashkar training camp with the ultimate goal of crossing into Afghanistan and defending the Taliban against the pending U.S. invasion. After several weeks of training that included lessons on the use of anti-aircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenades, two Lashkar officials approached Kwon and Khan with a request to conduct a special mission inside the United States. The two officials, one of whom referred to himself as "Disco Mujahideen," refused to discuss the exact mission, Kwon said. A few days later, Kwon said they met the men again, and Disco Mujahideen offered a few details of the mission, saying it entailed gathering information, sending a lot of e-mails and spreading propaganda. Kwon, who testified that he still felt in the dark about the mission’s nature, told the men he did not want to return to the United States. He did not testify about Khan’s response. On cross-examination, Kwon said that he and Khan had talked about moving to Pakistan and building homes there. Defense lawyers have argued that Khan’s plan for a future life with his family is evidence that he never intended to die as a martyr in a holy war, as the prosecution has argued. Also yesterday, prosecutors presented evidence that Khan purchased a navigation system in December 2002 that uses GPS technology to fly a radio-controlled plane automatically. Cyndi Reish, a manager with Colorado-based Vesta Technologies, testified that she ran a background check on Khan before selling him the $749 unit, saying she was suspicious because he was reluctant to fill out the order form and demanded immediate shipment. The background check turned up nothing, and the company sold and shipped the unit to Khan’s Gaithersburg home. A so-called "terrorist’s handbook" found in a search of Khan’s home contained passages about the use of radio-controlled planes as improvised bombs, according to previous testimony. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |