Pair Of Local Men Arrested For Alleged Overseas Terror Plots

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 27, 2009 5:20PM

A pair of Chicago men - David Coleman Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48 - have been arrested for alleged terror plots against sites in Western Europe including the Danish newspaper that caused an international incident a few years back by printing a cartoon featuring the prophet Muhammad. According to the Tribune:

Headley was described as an American citizen who changed his name from Daood Gilani. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the U.S. and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the conspiracy, according to a release from the U.S. attorney's office.

Rana, a native of Canada, was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign conspiracy involving Headley and three other individuals.

Authorities to a press release from the FBI, "There was no imminent danger in the Chicago area, officials said, adding that the charges are unrelated to recent terror plot arrests in Boston, New York, Colorado, Texas and central Illinois." The case against Headley claims he traveled to Denmark several times to conduct surveillance and is said to have received training from a few terrorist organizations including Harakat-ul Jihad Islami which has been linked to al-Qaida. Headley was arrested on October 3 as he boarded a plane at O'Hare destined for Pakistan; Rana was arrested on October 18 and agents also raided his goat-slaughtering plant in Kinsman, which was reported by a few media outlets but, until now, the cause for which was unknown.

The Trib has the federal complaint against the men available for reading here.