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Bomb plot mastermind going to jail
Photo: Reuters

Israeli consulate plot mastermind going to jail

Ringleader Kevin James was 'architect, mastermind of very troubling offense, judge says

The ringleader of a radical Islamic group that planned to bomb Israeli assets and US military facilities in California was on Friday jailed for 16 years, justice officials said.

 

Kevin James, 32, pleaded guilty to conspiring to wage war against the United States through terror for his part in the plot, which involved three co-conspirators currently in custody.

 

Prosecutors said the plotters were part of Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS,) which was founded by James in 1997 while he was in prison.

 

"Mr. James was the architect and mastermind of a very serious, very troubling offense," Judge Cormac Carney said in sentencing.

 

Two other members of the plot, Gregory Patterson and Levar Washington, were last year sentenced to 12 and 22 years respectively. A fourth man - Hammad Samana - was declared unfit to stand trial and is in psychiatric care.

 

Justice officials said although there was no evidence of links to al-Qaeda or other foreign Islamic groups, the accused men had adopted their cause.

 

Prosecutors said James enlisted Washington while in prison in late 2004. Washington then recruited Patterson and Samana upon his release.

 

While Washington carried out a string of armed robberies on gas stations to raise funds for the group, Samana began choosing targets, including Los Angeles International Airport, the Israeli Consulate and army recruitment centers.

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.06.09, 23:58
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