WRAL.com archive: Triangle terrorism case

The sons of the leader of an area terrorist cell have had their prison sentences reduced, according to federal court records.

Jude Kenan Mohammed, a member of an eight-man terror cell with Triangle ties, died in a drone strike in 2011. He is one of four Americans killed by drones since 2009, according to information disclosed Wednesday by Attorney General Eric Holder.

A convicted Triangle terrorist was sentenced Friday to life in prison on charges that he plotted to kill government witnesses who testified against him in his 2011 trial.

A convicted Triangle terrorist has been found guilty on federal charges of plotting to kill three government witnesses who testified against him in his 2011 terrorism trial.

Federal prosecutors rested their case Wednesday against a convicted terrorist accused in a murder-for-hire plot. The defendant, who is representing himself in the case, chose not to present any evidence.

Jurors in the federal trial of a man accused of wanting to behead three people viewed videos and listened to recordings about the alleged plot on Tuesday.

Two people pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges that they plotted to behead witnesses from a terrorism trial involving several Triangle men.

Two people pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges that they plotted to behead witnesses from a terrorism trial involving several Triangle men.

More than three years after their arrests, the Johnston County leader of a local terrorist cell and one of the cell members were sentenced Friday to federal prison for plotting to wage jihad on targets they saw as enemies of Islam.

An area teacher accused of plotting to behead three witnesses from a terrorism trial is seeking a separate trial from her two co-defendants.

A federal jury on Thursday found a Holly Springs man guilty of participating in terrorist activities.

An area teacher accused of plotting to behead three witnesses from a terrorism trial was released from jail Wednesday and will await her trial at her parent's home in Raleigh, according to court documents.

A Triangle native who traveled to Pakistan around 2008 "to engage in violent jihad," according to a federal indictment, could be dead, says a friend.

Nevine Aly Elshiekh, 46, of Raleigh, was one of two people arrested in January after an FBI sting in which a convicted terrorist allegedly tried to have three witnesses in his federal trial last fall killed.

A Raleigh man convicted in a homegrown terrorism plot faces new charges in connection with an attempt to hire a hit man to behead three witnesses who testified against him.

A federal judge on Friday ordered a woman to remain in custody pending her trial on murder-for-hire charges linked to a local terrorism case, despite her father's request to have her released into his custody.

The FBI faked the death of a man in order to make a suspect accused of paying a hit man to behead three witnesses in a North Carolina terrorism case believe that the gruesome crime had been carried out.

Dozens of people from the Triangle's Islamic community plan a show of support in Wilmington on Friday when two people have a federal court hearing on charges that they tried to hire someone to kill witnesses in a terrorism trial.

One of the men involved in a Johnston County terrorist cell that authorities said plotted attacks on a Marine base in Virginia and foreign targets tried to have witnesses in his trial last fall killed, according to federal records unsealed Monday.

A federal judge sentenced three Triangle men Friday to prison for their roles in a terrorist cell that authorities said plotted attacks on a Marine base in Virginia and foreign targets.

Two North Carolina men were sentenced to prison Tuesday for their roles in a home-grown terror cell that prosecutors say plotted attacks under their father's leadership.

Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, Ziyad Yaghi and Hysen Sherifi were among seven area men arrested in July 2009 on charges that they raised money to buy assault weapons and conduct training exercises and that they arranged overseas travel and contacts to help others carry out violent acts on behalf of a radical jihadist political agenda.

Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 23, Ziyad Yaghi, 22, and Hysen Sherifi, 26, face multiple felony charges related to allegations they conspired to attack targets overseas. Sherifi also is accused of plotting an attack on the Marine base in Quantico, Va.

Three men accused of being members of a terrorist cell based in Johnston County spent less than a day presenting their defense, and their case could be in the jury's hands by Tuesday afternoon.

The son of the suspected ringleader of a local terror cell told jurors on Thursday that he never made nor heard of any agreement between any of the defendants to murder, kidnap or maim anyone.

An FBI informant testified Wednesday that the man accused of heading up a terrorist cell in the Triangle routinely spoke about waging a holy war.

Federal prosecutors told jurors Tuesday that three Triangle men accused of plotting terrorist attacks worked toward carrying them out, while defense attorneys maintained there was never any conspiracy.

Jury selection began Monday in the federal trial of three Triangle men accused of plotting terrorist attacks.

A Johnston County man accused of plotting international terrorism with his father, brother and others pleaded guilty Wednesday.

A man accused of being part of a terrorist cell in the Triangle has been linked to what U.S. counterterrorism officials have called a credible but unconfirmed al-Qaida threat to set off a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington.

Attorneys for four Triangle men facing terrorism charges on Tuesday questioned the credibility of a government witness in the case.

Five Triangle men accused in a 2009 terrorism plot pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Raleigh, and their supporters contend the government's case is overblown.

The trial for five Triangle men arrested in 2009 on charges that they plotted acts of terrorism will start Sept. 19 in New Bern and could last up to nine weeks, a federal judge announced Friday.

A son of the Johnston County man who headed up a terrorist cell pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal conspiracy in the case.

The Johnston County man accused of heading up a terrorist cell pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of conspiracy in the case. He faces up to life in prison.

A new federal indictment adds charges against a North Carolina man accused in a terrorism case.

Confidential informants told FBI agents that the suspected ringleader in an alleged Triangle terrorism plot bought numerous weapons in November 2006 and that he and his sons traveled to the Middle East a few times in 2006 and 2007.

Obtaining depositions from foreign witnesses is proving to be problematic for attorneys representing several Triangle men accused of plotting acts of terrorism, one defense attorney said in court Tuesday.

The FBI issued an alert Friday for a man thought to have ties to a suspected terrorism ring in the Triangle.

A European judge has ruled that a man arrested in Kosovo last week will not be extradited to the U.S. to face charges that he aided a suspected terrorism ring in the Triangle.

A man arrested in Kosovo is linked to the eight Triangle-area men suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A federal judge on Friday postponed the trial date for seven Triangle men accused of terrorist activities until September 2011.

Attorneys for seven Triangle men accused of terrorist activities said Monday that they're having a difficult time understanding audio recordings the FBI made in the case.

With less than six months until the scheduled start of the trial for seven area men accused of terrorist activities, defense attorneys said Friday that they are trying to work through the massive amount of evidence in the case.

Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, his sons, Dylan Boyd, 22, and Zakariya "Zak" Boyd, 20, and four other men – Hysen Sherifi, 24, Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, Ziyad Yaghi, 21, and Anes Subasic, 33 – were indicted in July on charges that they plotted to murder, kidnap, maim and injure people overseas.

The amount of evidence continues to grow in the case of seven area men accused of terrorist activities, and defense lawyers said Friday that they might not be able to sift through it all in time for a trial this fall.

A federal judge has set a September trial date for seven Triangle-area men accused of plotting terrorist acts.

Seven Triangle-area men accused of plotting terrorist acts were back in federal court in Raleigh on Thursday for the first time in four months as their attorneys and prosecutors discussed progress in the case.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have reached an agreement on how to handle sensitive, unclassified material in the case of seven Triangle-area men accused of plotting terrorist acts.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are having a difficult time hashing out how to handle sensitive, unclassified material in the case of seven Triangle-area men accused of plotting terrorist acts.

Federal agents seized a variety of ammunition and weapons accessories, materials on 9/11 and other records during a search last week of the Holly Springs home of a man charged in an alleged terrorism conspiracy.

Attorneys for at least two of the Triangle terror suspects said the U.S. government has no evidence against their clients and that the men were simply listening to speeches given by another man charged in the case.

Federal agents and local police spent much of Friday combing through the Holly Springs home where a man accused of taking part in a terrorism plot lived with his father.

Two men charged with plotting terrorist acts overseas face additional charges that they conspired to kill military personnel in the U.S., authorities said Thursday.

The complexity of the case against eight men charged with plotting terrorist acts overseas could delay the start of any trials in the case until at least next fall, officials said Thursday.

A Johnston County man named as the ringleader of an aspiring terrorism group sold most of the weapons he purchased and wanted to make sure his children were familiar with guns, one of the sons told federal agents in a report released Tuesday.

As they rounded up seven men charged with engaging in terrorism, federal agents last month searched the home of a Cary man who hasn't been indicted in the case.

Federal agents seized several rifles and other guns, $14,000 cash and newspaper clippings of the Sept. 11 attacks from a man accused of plotting international terrorism, according to a warrant unsealed Tuesday.

A federal grand jury indicted Jude Kenan Mohammad and seven other men last month, alleging that they were trying to wage a holy war overseas and tried to raise money, buy weapons and train in military tactics in North Carolina.

A federal judge has denied bond for Anes Subasic, 33, of Holly Springs, the seventh of eight men facing charges in an alleged international terrorism plot.

Six men accused of terrorist activities were moved late Wednesday from the Wake County Jail to the Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville, Va., according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Earlier in the day, a federal magistrate ordered the suspects be held without bond while awaiting trial.

FBI Special Agent Mike Sutton testified that Daniel Patrick Boyd told a federal informant that he would bring jihad to the U.S. if he was unsuccessful overseas.

One of the defendants has already asked that the government turn over any information it has about him, including any audio or video recordings, and reveal whether electronic surveillance was used to gather evidence in the case.

Humza Ismail, who lived in Raleigh for a brief period of time, claimed during a recent interview with CNN that he warned the Islamic Center of Raleigh of about two Triangle men facing terrorism charges.

Terrorism charges against eight Triangle men are part of a wave of similar investigations federal law enforcement authorities have brought in recent years, according to experts.

Accusations that a Johnston County man recruited and trained would-be terrorists to wage violent jihad are "preposterous," his older brother says, portraying the charges as an attempt to link Islam to terrorism.

The 14-page federal indictment that accuses eight men of plotting terrorist activities overseas includes references to seemingly innocuous activities like foreign travel and meeting friends.

A Willow Spring woman whose husband and two sons are accused of supporting terrorism says the FBI tricked her the day of their arrest.

People familiar with several Triangle men accused of plotting terrorism overseas said Wednesday that they don't fit the image of terrorists.

A WRAL News source identified the suspect as a 20-year-old Wake County man who is being tracked in Pakistan.

Frank Perry, who headed the agency's Raleigh bureau until 2004, said there are dozens, if not hundreds, of suspected terrorist cases that do not lead to indictments.

Representatives of the Triangle Muslim community said Tuesday that the public shouldn't judge seven men federal authorities have accused of being terrorists until the case goes to trial.

A father, who lived at 134 Lakeside Circle in Willow Spring, and his two sons are among seven people accused of supporting terrorism by training and traveling overseas, federal authorities said Monday.

Officials arrested seven North Carolina residents Monday on charges they supported terrorism by recruiting people to fight and plotted a series of attacks overseas.