|
 Terry Loewen, a 58-year-old aviation technician from Wichita, was
taken into custody early Friday morning as he attempted to enter the
airport tarmac with a vehicle loaded with what authorities said he
believed were explosives. He planned to trigger the explosives and
die in the explosion, they said.
Loewen has been under investigation by the Wichita Joint Terrorism
Task Force since early summer and had been working on the bomb plot
with individuals he thought were accomplices. But they were actually
undercover FBI agents, according to the criminal complaint filed in
federal court in Wichita.
Loewen thought one of the undercover agents was a member of "AQAP,"
a Yemen-based terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for
several terrorist acts against the United States, according to the
criminal complaint. That agent helped Loewen with the construction
of the device, which officials said, unknown to Loewen, was not
active.
"It was not a bomb that would ever explode," said Barry Grissom,
U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas. "At no time was the
airport perimeter breached and at no time was any citizen or member
of the traveling public in danger."
Officials refused to provide details on the materials in the device.
Authorities said Loewen had made statements prior to the attempted
attack that he was resolved to commit an act of violence that would
kill as many people as possible.
Loewen provided one undercover FBI agent with research he had
conducted on the best time to execute the attack based on the number
of people who would be boarding aircraft and the number of people
who would be in the terminal, the criminal complaint said.
Loewen was charged in federal court with one count of attempting to
use a weapon of mass destruction, one count of attempting to damage
property by means of an explosive and one count of attempting to
provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist
organization.
[to top of second column] |
Loewen left a letter dated December 11, 2013 for a family member
describing his intent to conduct a martyrdom operation, according to
the criminal complaint. Part of the letter reads: "By the time you
read this I will — if everything went as planned- have been martyred
in the path of Allah... The operation was timed to cause maximum
carnage + death. My only explanation is that I believe in jihad for
the sake of Allah + for the sake of my Muslim brothers + sisters."
Officials said they were continuing their investigation, but no
further arrests were expected.
"This incident is a reminder that we must remain vigilant and
reaffirm our commitment to protecting this country and its ideals
from those who wish to do us harm," U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas
Republican, said in a statement.
The arrest comes a month after a man attacked security workers at
Los Angeles International Airport on November 1, killing one
Transportation Security Administration agent and wounding two others
before police wounded him and took him into custody.
In October, Jacksonville International Airport in Florida was
evacuated for five hours after a man made a false bomb threat. A
trucking company worker was arrested and charged with telling a TSA
agent he had a bomb in a backpack.
In February 2012, authorities arrested a Moroccan man near the U.S.
Capitol wearing a vest he believed was full of al Qaeda-supplied
explosives. The man, who like Loewen was the object of a lengthy
undercover FBI investigation, was charged with the attempted suicide
bombing of Congress and faces up to life in prison if convicted.
(Editing by Vicki Allen, Bernadette Baum and Dan Grebler)
[© 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2013 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
