Friday 11 September 2015

Alleged terror plot aimed at 911 anniversary foiled

A Florida man is charged with plotting to set off an explosion at a 9/11 event. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested 20-year-old Joshua Ryne Goldberg Thursday in Florida. Prosecutors say he told an online informant how to make the bomb he wanted.
Investigators originally thought the suspect was recruiting people to carry out attacks from a location in Australia, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues.
It turns out Goldberg was in the U.S., in a home near Jacksonville, where he was taken into custody. He shares the home in Orange Park with his parents.
According to court documents, he had set his sights on bombing a 9/11 memorial event -- the Kansas City Stair Climb.
Investigators said he was communicating online with someone he thought was sympathetic to his cause but who was actually an FBI informant, and the online conversations were being monitored. According to investigators, Goldberg encouraged the informant to build a pressure cooker bomb similar to what was used in the Boston Marathon bombing.
He allegedly wrote, "Put as much sharp stuff as you can in there" and "use shards of metal and nails."
It was enough for police to make the arrest.
If convicted, Goldberg could get up to 20 years behind bars.
According to court documents, online, Goldberg presented himself as a Muslim living in Australia who supported ISIS. But ultimately, a bomb was never built and Goldberg was doing his planning using his mother's computer at the family home.