Seven charged over US terror plot

Seven people have been charged in the US city of Miami with conspiring with al-Qaeda to blow up several buildings, including Chicago’s famous Sears Tower.

The seven individuals, five of them American, were taken into custody on Thursday following a series of raids on various addresses across the country, including a warehouse in Miami, Florida.

They are also charged with conspiring to “maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive” the FBI building in North Miami Beach.

The indictment identifies a man called Narseal Batiste as recruiting and training people for the missions, as well as allegedly meeting a purported al-Qaeda operative to ask for cash, guns, radios and vehicles to help him build “an Islamic army to wage jihad”, the document says.

The al-Qaeda “operative” was in reality an undercover law enforcement official, sources said.

The Miami Herald newspaper reported on Thursday that the men were more “wannabes” than terrorist plotters, and indicated that no actual explosives had been found.

The men, named as Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin and Rotschild Augustine, were expected to appear in court on Friday.

Warehouse raid

Some of the men were reportedly members of a religious group called the Seas of David. Its leader told CNN that five of his members were among those arrested and that they had no connection to terrorists.

Local media reported that agents raided a warehouse on Thursday in the Liberty City area of Miami.

Residents of the area where the raids took place said FBI agents spent several hours in the neighbourhood showing photos of the suspects to people and seeking information. They said the men had lived in the area for about a year.

Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington, said “there is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations”. He declined to comment further.

Agencies