NYT:
A 23-year-old California man who the F.B.I. said volunteered to kill Americans after he received training at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan was arrested today along with his father and two others.
Hamid Hayat and his father, Umer Hayat, 45, of Lodi, Calif., were being held on charges of lying to federal authorities because each had denied that Hamid Hayat had attended the training camp for about six months during 2003 and 2004, according to an F.B.I. affidavit.
The affidavit said that Hamid Hayat told investigators that while at the camp, he had been given a choice on where to carry out his jihad, and that he had chosen the United States.
“Camp attendees were given the opportunity to choose the country in which to carry out their jihadi mission, including the United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir and other countries,” the affidavit said.
“Hamid advised that he specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his jihadi mission. Potential targets would include hospitals and large food stores,” the affidavit said.
Both father and son are United States citizens.
Two other men were arrested in Lodi for violating terms of their visas, Reuters said, quoting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Dean Boyd. The news agency said the two men were Muhammad Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed, who are both imans.
According to the F.B.I. affidavit, Hamid Hayat said that Al Qaeda provided instructors who trained recruits in weapons, explosives and hand-to-hand combat and strenuous exercise.
During weapons training, photos of President Bush and other high-ranking United States political figures were pasted onto targets, the affidavit said.The F.B.I. said Hamid Hayat was on a flight from South Korea to San Francisco on May 29 when authorities determined he was on a “no-fly” list. The plane was diverted to Japan where Hamid Hayat was questioned by an F.B.I. agent. After denying any terrorist links, he was allowed to continue traveling to the United States. The affidavit said that Hamid Hayat had originally left the United States for Pakistan in April 2003, and had departed Pakistan for the United States on May 27 of this year.
In the United States, Hamid Hayat voluntarily took a polygraph test, which authorities found indicative of deception,” according to the affidavit.
“After approximately two more hours of questioning, Hamid admitted that he had, in fact, attended a jihadist training camp in Pakistan,” the affidavit said.
