cshenk wrote:
> not everyone likes extras with a steak.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...side/cron.html

Dec. 14, 1999 + Ressam arrested near Seattle

Ressam says that on the morning of Dec. 14, he called Meskini and told
him he would be in Seattle that evening. That afternoon, he took a ferry
from Victoria, B.C., to Port Angeles, Wash., with more than 100 pounds
of explosives stashed in the wheelbed of the trunk of his rental car.
His accomplice, Dahoumane, did not travel with him.

At Victoria, U.S. immigration pre-clearance agents were mildly
suspicious of Ressam. They made him open his trunk, but saw nothing. He
presented his fake Canadian passport, and the computer check turned up
no previous convictions or warrants in the name of Benni Noris. Ressam
drove his rental car, with its concealed bomb, onto the ferry heading
for Washington state. Upon his arrival at Port Angeles, a U.S. customs
agent became suspicious of his hesitant answers to her questions, and
she asked for identification. Agents began searching the car. As they
discovered the explosive materials -- which they at first took to be
drugs -- in the trunk of the car, Ressam tried to run away. He was
caught and arrested.

Aftermath and Sept. 11, 2001

After Ressam's arrest was televised, an urgent call to Meskini came from
Haouari in Montreal. Haouari was recorded telling Meskini to change his
phone number, beeper, and cell phone and to leave immediately. Police
watched as Meskini ripped up airline receipts and bank machine slips and
threw them into a nearby dumpster. The FBI retrieved the evidence, and
both men were arrested hours later. Meskini entered into a plea
agreement in which he admitted conspiring with Ressam and testified
against him at trial. Haouari was extradited to the U.S. from Canada and
put on trial in New York.

On April 6, 2001, after a four-week trial in U.S. District Court in Los
Angeles, Ressam was convicted of nine counts, including conspiracy to
commit an international terrorist act, explosives smuggling, and lying
to customs officials. Facing up to 130 years in prison, Ressam agreed to
cooperate with prosecutors, providing information about his activities
and those of his terrorist network. As part of the agreement, he
testified against Haouari at trial. His sentencing has been postponed
until February 2002. Also on April 6, Ressam was convicted in absentia
in France and sentenced to five years for conspiring to commit terrorist
acts there.

Abdelmajid Dahoumane escaped to Afghanistan. The U.S. State Department
issued a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his
arrest and conviction. He was later caught by Algerian security forces
and convicted on terrorism-related charges there.

Just days after the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001,
investigators interrogated Ressam at the federal detention center near
Seattle. They reportedly showed him pictures of the 19 hijackers. He
said he knew none of them but did provide other names of people in
so-called "sleeper cells" in North America. Ressam has also added
significant new information about Al Qaeda's interest in chemical and
biological weapons.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/worl...icle-1.1324305

U.S. and Canada foil Al Qaeda terrorist plot to derail New York to
Toronto passenger train, two suspects arrested
The suspects, who had planned the attacks more than a year, appear
unrelated to the Boston Marathon bombers.

Two suspected Al Qaeda terrorists were busted Monday in Canada before
they could wreak havoc on the rails by blowing up a New York-to-Toronto
passenger train.