FBI finds weapons, documents in hidden home of teen suspect in Dallas terrorism case
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009 Comments (11) Recommend (1)Print


By MELODY McDONALD

mjmcdonald@star-telegram.com

MILFORD — Off a muddy road in rural Hill County, in a nondescript tan mobile home, Hosam "Sam" Smadi made his final plans to bring down a Dallas skyscraper, authorities say.

Federal officials learned about the well-hidden mobile home after arresting the 19-year-old Jordanian on Sept. 24. Smadi gave the FBI written consent to search the residence, where he moved Sept. 22.

Inside, officials found a Beretta handgun; two loaded magazines; one box of Winchester 9 mm ammunition; a laptop; a digital camera; and numerous documents, including Smadi’s passport, tax returns, a visa and a birth certificate, according to a receipt filed by the FBI that lists the seized property.

Smadi is being held in a federal detention center in Seagoville on a charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. On Sept. 24, federal officials said, he tried to detonate what he believed was a car bomb under Fountain Place, a 60-story tower in Dallas.

The device was a fake provided by FBI employees posing as al Qaeda operatives.

After his arrest, Smadi told federal officials that he had moved out of his dome-shaped apartment in the town of Italy two days earlier and into a mobile home off Hill County Road 4311 near Milford. According to a search warrant affidavit, Smadi gave authorities directions to the residence, which is tucked behind a tin-roofed mobile home.

Members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force located what they believed to be Smadi’s home and brought him a photo of it. After Smadi confirmed that it was his new residence, he gave them written consent to search it, according to a search warrant affidavit. Officials also secured a search warrant for the property.

On Tuesday, because of recent rains, the home could be reached only by four-wheel-drive vehicles. The property was vacant, except for a dog. No one answered the door at the mobile home where Smadi stayed or at the tin-roofed home in front.

The property owner’s daughter, reached by telephone, said a group of Hispanic men rents the tin-roofed home. She said she was unaware that the teen accused in the terrorist plot had recently rented the tan home.

Federal officials have said Smadi lived and acted alone.




Smadi’s brother asks to go home SAN FRANCISCO — Hosam Smadi’s brother told an immigration judge Tuesday that he wants to go home to Jordan.
Hussein Smadi, 18, appeared before a San Francisco immigration court and told the judge that he wants to rejoin his father in his home country. He offered to pay his own way.

Hussein Smadi entered the United States legally on a tourist visa in 2007 but stayed after it expired and enrolled in high school.

He was arrested on a drug charge Aug. 11 and pleaded not guilty to possession of a controlled substance Sept. 8, according to the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office.

Friends say Hussein and Hosam Smadi moved to Santa Clara, Calif., after their mother died. But when Hosam Smadi moved to Italy, south of Dallas, Hussein Smadi remained in Silicon Valley.

Through an attorney, Hussein Smadi said he had nothing to do with his brother or any of the charges against him.

"He’s not saying his brother is guilty of anything, but he’s saying he had nothing to do with what his brother was accused of," said Mark Silverman, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center who was giving Hussein Smadi legal advice.

http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1666699.html