A 20-year-old Saudi man was arrested in Texas on charges that he purchased chemicals to make an explosive device and researched potential U.S. targets, including the Dallas address of former President George W. Bush, according to the Justice Department.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, was arrested yesterday by FBI agents on a charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, the Justice Department said in a statement today.
Counterterrorism officials have raised concern about cases in which people living legally in the U.S. could plot attacks and evade detection. In this case, the suspect was arrested after a chemical supplier reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he tried to purchase concentrated phenol, which can be used to make an explosive, according to the statement.
Aldawsari, who faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, was legally allowed in the U.S. in 2008 on a student visa and is enrolled at South Plains College near Lubbock, Texas, according to the statement.
Aldawsari researched targets and e-mailed himself information on locations and people, according to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant, filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas. He identified reservoir dams in Colorado and California, according to the Justice Department. On Feb. 6, he sent himself am e-mail titled “Tyrant’s House,” in which he listed Bush’s Dallas address, the affidavit said.
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