US terrorist suspect is not Emirati: Gargash

Dubai - Yahya Farooq Mohammed is an Indian who lived in the UAE between 2004 and 2008

A terror suspect accused of plotting to kill a judge in the American state of Ohio is not an Emirati, according to Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
The suspect, 37-year-old Yahya Farooq Mohammed, is an Indian who lived in the UAE between 2004 and 2008. In March 2008, he visited the United States and married an American citizen.
In a tweet on his official account, Gargash noted that reports that the suspect was a citizen of the UAE are false.
"On reviewing our embassy in Washington ... it said the information about an Emirati accused of plotting to kill a judge in America is incorrect. He is an Asian national and lived for a time in the country," he said.
An indictment returned by a Federal Grand Jury on July 6 accuses Mohammed of attempting to orchestrate the kidnapping and murder of a Federal Judge, Jack Zouhary.
According to the indictment, Mohammed, while in jail on charges of providing material support to terrorists in a case to which Zouhary was assigned, told another inmate that he was willing to pay $15,000 to have Zouhary kidnapped and killed.
The inmate introduced Mohammed to an undercover officer who pretended to be willing to carry out the murder. Mohammed then arranged for his wife to clandestinely meet with the undercover officer to deliver a $1,000 down payment to the agent. Mohammed told the inmate that an additional $13,000 would follow.
"When asked when he wanted the murder committed, Mohammed stated, 'The sooner would be good, you know,' " the indictment noted.
In a statement, Barbara L. McQuade, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said that Mohammed will now be held accountable for attempting to murder Zouhary and disrupt the legal proceedings of the terrorism case.
"This prosecution seeks to hold the defendant accountable for attempting to victimise the judge and for trying to undermine our criminal justice system," she said.
"Conspiring to have a judge killed is not the way to avoid being prosecuted - now Mohammed will be held accountable for additional serious federal charges," added Stephen Anthony, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Special Agent in Charge.
According to American media reporters, Mohammed was extradited from the UAE to the United States following a four-count indictment unsealed in November that accused him and three other suspects of travelling to Yemen in 2009 in an effort to provide radical cleric Anwar Al Awlaki $29,000 to help fund terrorist acts targeting officers and employees of the United States.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com
 
 

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