American arrested in California planned to train al-Qaeda on ambushing Syrian Army

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen   22 October ,2013 10:47 AM

Section : Politics - Syria

Breakinf News Network- Newspapers

A 24-year-old American charged with trying to join al-Qaida was intercepted by the FBI after using the Internet and Facebook to connect with the terrorist group, a prosecutor said Monday.

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, 24, confessed to federal agents that he planned to offer himself as a trainer of some 30 al-Qaida forces to ambush troops in Syria, where he had already spent five months fighting with rebels, the U.S. newspaper Washington Post reported quoting Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Heinz.

U.S. District Judge John Walter expressed skepticism with some of the evidence and questioned whether the wannabe terrorist had any special skills to offer al-Qaida.

Heinz said a confidential informant and an undercover FBI agent posing as an al-Qaida recruiter gathered evidence against Nguyen after he reached out on the Internet and on his Facebook page to join the terrorist group.

He was arrested Oct. 11 at a Santa Ana bus station as he prepared to board a bus for Mexico with plane tickets to Pakistan, authorities said. The undercover agent escorted him to the bus and had told him they would be meeting “his sheik” in Peshawar, the prosecutor said.

When agents arrested him, Nguyen exclaimed, “’How did you guys find out?’” Heinz said.

The prosecutor said Nguyen had a fake passport, $1,850 in Syrian currency and a pamphlet with extensive instructions on shooting and setting up battle plans.

Three swords, two large axes, two hatchets and a copy of the famous tome, “The Art of War” were found in the Garden Grove home where he lived with his parents.

Walter set a Dec. 3 trial date and urged the government to quickly analyze the content of eight computers and four cellphones taken from Nguyen’s home.

Heinz said Nguyen planned to train al-Qaida forces in shooting.

As the judge pressed Heinz for more information, she said Nguyen waived his Miranda rights shortly after his arrest, confessing within 90 minutes then going on for 50 hours of tape recorded interviews, much of it detailing his experiences in Syria.

“He confessed on the 50 hours of interviews,” the prosecutor said, relating Nguyen’s plan to go to Pakistan, fake his own death and assume a new identity “to be a soldier for jihad.”

Prosecutors intended to present excerpts from the interviews during trial, Heinz said, along with Facebook posts where he says he killed someone in battle during five months he spent in Syria last year.

The FBI operative told Nguyen that getting a fake passport would be a lot easier than faking his death and offered help. The prosecutor said Nguyen filled out the passport request with a new name, Hasan Abu Omar Ghannoum, and gave it to the agent, who sent it to the U.S. government which issued the passport.

The judge asked Heinz again to identify the resources Nguyen was providing to al-Qaida.

“He was providing himself,” she said.

http://breakingnews.sy/en/article/27484.html