By Dana Feldman
RIVERSIDE, Calif., Dec 5 (Reuters) - Three California men
accused of plotting to join al Qaeda and Taliban militants for
training in Afghanistan pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to
charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.
Prosecutors also revealed that a fourth man, accused
ringleader and former U.S. Air Force service member Sohiel Omar
Kabir, 34, had been returned to the United States from
Afghanistan, where he was arrested last month.
The U.S. government has stepped up surveillance efforts to
catch domestic and foreign militants since the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on New York and Washington, and it has repeatedly warned
that such groups still pose a threat.
The three other men accused in the case, all U.S. citizens
or permanent residents, were arrested last month, two days
before they planned to board planes for Mexico with the goal of
flying to Turkey and eventually reaching Afghanistan, the FBI
has said.
The FBI has added that the group's target list included
military bases in Afghanistan. The three men arrested in
California were identified as Ralph Kenneth Deleon, 23, and
Miguel Vidriales Santana, 21, who authorities said both
converted to Islam under Kabir's influence, as well as Arifeen
David Gojali, 21.
Those three were indicted on charges of conspiracy to
provide material support to terrorists in a move that could see
the case move to trial quickly by letting prosecutors skip a
preliminary hearing in which they would lay out their case and a
judge would determine if there was enough evidence for a trial.
All three pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Judge Oswald
Parada in federal court in Riverside. They were dressed in
orange jumpsuits and handcuffed. Deleon laughed and smiled at
times during the hearing.
PAID INFORMANT
The case against the men relies in part on the work of an
unidentified paid informant, who the FBI said was paid $250,000
plus "immigration benefits" in return for his 4 1/2 years of
work on behalf of the government.
A lawyer for one of the men said the use of a paid informant
in the case as problematic.
"When you have law enforcement, an undercover cop, working
on a case, there's a certain trust factor there. When someone
who is not law enforcement is working, someone who's receiving
something beneficial, then that is another issue," said Randolph
Driggs, who represents Deleon.
"The worst part, I think, is using a hired gun. They're the
least trustworthy, receiving large amounts of financial gain.
... You question their objective," he added.
In conversations relayed or recorded by the informant,
Deleon and Santana spoke about traveling to Afghanistan to join
Kabir and engage in "violent jihad," according to the criminal
complaint. It said they described potential targets for attacks,
including U.S. military bases.
Kabir was born in Afghanistan and is a naturalized U.S.
citizen who served in the U.S. Air Force from 2000 to 2001.
He made his initial court appearance on Tuesday in federal
court in Riverside, Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S.
Attorney's Office, said in an email.
Kabir, who was not included in the indictment against the
three men but has been charged separately with conspiring to
provide material support to terrorists, was ordered held without
bail until a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Mrozek
said. The cases were expected to ultimately be merged.
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