Tarek Mehanna, 27, was arrested at his house today and charged today with conspiring with two other men to launch terrorist attacks, including a possible attack on a shopping mall with automatic weapons, in plotting that allegedly also involved a Methuen man now in custody for fighting with al-Queda in Somalia.
At a press conference this morning, officials said Mehanna and Ahmad Abousamra attempted to obtain automatic weapons from Daniel Maldonado, a Methuen man fighting with al-Queda in Somalia. They said Mehanna also expressed interest in going abroad to kill American soldiers - and that they apparently gave up their plans to shoot up a shopping mall when Maldonado told the other two the best he could do would be handguns. They were allegedly inspired by the 2002 sniper shootings around Washington, DC, and felt civilians were fair game because they were infidels.
Maldonado is serving a ten-year sentence for fighting with al-Queda after being arrested by Kenyan troops in Somalia. Abousamra managed to flee to Syria before he could be arrested for the conspiracy, which officials say began in 2006.
In 2008, Mehanna was charged with lying to FBI agents about Daniel Maldonado, a former Methuen resident charged with undergoing al-Queda training. In their complaint (read the complaint), federal prosecutors said Mehanna was in regular contact with Maldonado, despite telling FBI agents he hadn't spoken to him much. Mehanna, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, was arrested at Logan Airport on his way to a new job in Saudi Arabia.
Mehanna was out on bail on this earlier charge when arrested today.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
D'oh!
By issacg
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 11:02am
Yes, those one-thousand-one statements are a bitch...particularly when you explicitly acknowledge that you are aware of the statute and that violating it is a federal crime in and of itself.
Gotta love it!
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 11:25am
The guy takes advantage of all this country has to offer, gets a fine education at a state school that qualified him for a good job in a place he might like better ... and yet we are all infidels who are fair game for murder. Nice way to say thanks to society. Never mind that any random person in DC might also be a Muslim - just like all the Muslims who died in the WTC. Somehow, I don't think that their spouses and children consider them to be hallowed martyrs to the Jihad.
One would think he could have just taken his publically supported education and left for a more pure world of his liking without all the terrorist drama.
Village Idiot?
By MadMax
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 11:38am
I likewise would have thought that his pricey education would have enabled him to develop critical thinking. Nevertheless, if this is to be believed, he somehow came up with the idea to attack people at a mall? Huh?
Not to justify anything this
By anon
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 11:46am
Not to justify anything this guy is alleged to have done but why do you assume he is an immigrant? Because of his name? Perhaps the ease with which you make this assumption is part of the reason he feels so alienated...
re:
By Jimmy
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 12:07pm
She didn't say he was an immigrant in her comment. One could be born here and still "take advantage of all this country has to offer".
Thanks, Jimmy
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 12:28pm
I did that intentionally - it doesn't matter if he was an immigrant or not, he benefitted from our society, which he sought to destroy. Gee, thanks.
FTR, it is often the native-born second generation in western countries who are most likely to get sucked into the terrorist machine, not immigrants. Immigrants usually come here to pursue a better life and contribute to society while availing themselves of its benefits. They fully understand the benefits of their move, and the non-utopian world they departed.
Nitpick - MCPHS isn't a
By anon
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 1:12pm
Nitpick - MCPHS isn't a state school. It's private.
Fair enough
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 1:29pm
He did, however, enjoy the many benefits of our society, which includes support for and access to education.
Words can't describe...
By Trixie
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 1:31pm
Words can't describe your idiotic "foot-in-mouth" syndrome that you are about to have:
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is not a state school; not at all. It is a private school, and is the oldest private school in boston (harvard is in cambridge).
He is not an immigrant - his parents *might* have been. His father is a professor of medicinal chemistry at MCPHS and has been for the last 40+ years. The father is a brilliant man.
And before we hear about the middle east and him being some al-quaida terrorist person, a *very simple* google search will reveal what I've known all along: the family is of egyptian descent. Of course it doesn't excuse what he allegedly did/planned to do, but at least you can have your facts straight before you continue to bloviate like the moron you are showing yourself to be in this post.
More Projection than a Power Point Festival
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 1:57pm
Words can't describe, which is why you ignore mine all together and put your own in! Reread for comprehension, please ... if you can.
While you are composing and ascribing thoughts and words to me that I didn't say, please research the amount of money your alma mater receives in the form of federal and state support, including student loans. A school need not be public to be funded by the public, at least in part.
I don't get it
By Marc
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 9:44pm
I don't understand what Trixie finds offensive or untrue in your comments. I think an apology on his/her part for misreading is probably in order.
Nowhere does she say he was an immigrant
By anon
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 2:03pm
Americans can also get a good education, take advantage of what this country has to offer, and then get a job in another place (as he did with his pharmacy job in Saudi Arabia).
She did not mention the Middle East at all, an area of the world that includes Egypt.
MCPHS is a private college. . .not a state school
By parent
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 7:12pm
I know. . .I pay tuition!
Hey!
By Maldonian
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 11:39am
Methuen, not Malden, says the Globe. Sheesh.
My apologies to the Maldives
By adamg
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 11:47am
As somebody whose first fulltime reporting job involved covering three M towns (Medfield, Medway and Millis), I should have been more careful. Fixed.
Maldonado
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/21/2009 - 12:35pm
Isn't that a generic term for a resident of Malden?
As in "Joe Doe, a lifelong Maldendado, celebrated his retirement ..."