Three nabbed in terror plot targeting financial sites

3 Britons charged
in plot against finance buildings

WASHINGTON - Three suspected terrorists on Tuesday were indicted on charges that they targeted financial buildings in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., in a four-year plot that prompted federal authorities to raise the terrorism threat assessment level in those areas last summer.

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A four-count indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses Dhiran Barot, Nadeem Tarmohammed and Qaisar Shaffi, all British citizens, of scouting the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the District of Columbia.

The three men, already in custody in England, were charged with three conspiracy counts and providing material support to terrorists. They face a maximum sentence of life in prison if they are tried and convicted of the charges against them, Deputy Attorney General James Comey said at a news conference announcing the indictments.

Comey said the trio engaged in surveillance of the financial buildings as part of a plot that envisioned using "weapons of mass destruction" against them. He said the plot ran from August 2000 until August 2004, when the men were arrested in the United Kingdom on terrorism-related charges.

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Call us cynical if you must, but we're certain this announcement means a late night at the ACLU as they scramble to free these "political prisoners".