Hosam Maher Husein Smadi
Encyclopedia
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi (born 1990) is a citizen of Jordan
who was arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist bombing of Fountain Place
, a downtown skyscraper in Dallas, Texas
, on September 24, 2009.
Smadi was in the United States
illegally, and unaware he was under continuous surveillance, and that the other members of his "sleeper cell" were all Federal agents. The agents in his "sleeper cell" had supplied him with inert chemical, so his bomb had not posed a real threat.
Immigration officials were trying to determine how Smadi was able to work at a gas station, since he only had a 2007 tourist visa.
Smadi admitted leaving what he thought was a truck bomb in a garage beneath the 60-story building September. The device was a dud provided by FBI agents posing as al-Qaeda members. Smadi activated a timer connected to the decoy with a cell phone, then rode with an undercover agent and waited to watch the explosion. Instead, the phone rang an FBI number, and Smadi was arrested.
Smadi agreed to plead guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The charge is punishable by up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine, but prosecutors agreed to suggest to U.S. District Judge Barbara M. Lynn
that the sentence not be more than 30 years. Under the plea bargain, prosecutors dropped a charge accusing Smadi of bombing a public place.
Additional case documents are available here.
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
who was arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist bombing of Fountain Place
Fountain Place
Fountain Place is a 60-story late-modernist skyscraper in the Arts District in downtown Dallas, Texas. Standing at a structural height of , it is the fifth-tallest in Dallas, and the 15th-tallest in Texas.-Design:...
, a downtown skyscraper in Dallas, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, on September 24, 2009.
Smadi was in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
illegally, and unaware he was under continuous surveillance, and that the other members of his "sleeper cell" were all Federal agents. The agents in his "sleeper cell" had supplied him with inert chemical, so his bomb had not posed a real threat.
Immigration officials were trying to determine how Smadi was able to work at a gas station, since he only had a 2007 tourist visa.
Smadi admitted leaving what he thought was a truck bomb in a garage beneath the 60-story building September. The device was a dud provided by FBI agents posing as al-Qaeda members. Smadi activated a timer connected to the decoy with a cell phone, then rode with an undercover agent and waited to watch the explosion. Instead, the phone rang an FBI number, and Smadi was arrested.
Smadi agreed to plead guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The charge is punishable by up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine, but prosecutors agreed to suggest to U.S. District Judge Barbara M. Lynn
Barbara M. Lynn
Barbara M. Lynn is a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, with chambers in Dallas, Texas.- Early life and education :...
that the sentence not be more than 30 years. Under the plea bargain, prosecutors dropped a charge accusing Smadi of bombing a public place.
Additional case documents are available here.