FBI Foils Terrorist Plot In Texas
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: February 24, 2011
Landon Lepard woke up to agents roaming his apartment halls. Then he got a call from a friend.
"They notified me that someone was arrested for terrorism on my floor," he said.
Inside Aldawsari's apartmetn authorities say they found a hasmat suit, lab equipment, wires, clocks and chemicals.
"The fact that he lives in the same building is pretty nerve racking," said Lepard.
Aldawsari came to the US in 2008 on a student visa paid for by the Saudi government. The following year he majored in chemical engineering at Texas Tech... But six weeks ago the f-b-1 says he transferred to south plains college because of poor grades. We tried talking to dozens of South Plains students, but no one had seen Aldawsari.
Authorities believe Aldawsari wanted to use the bombs to blow up President George W. Bushes house in Dallas, cars in rush hour, nuclear plants, damns, and night clubs.
The FBI affidavit says Aldawsari purchased Phenol, a toxic chemical used to build explosives, from a company in Burlington, North Carolina.
His goal was to make IEDs, hiding them in cars, back packs, and even baby dolls. But his plan went wrong when the chemical company and a shipping company alarmed the authorities.
The affidavit also alleges that Aldawsari e-mailed himself instructions to convert a cell-phone into a remote detonator.
In Aldawsari's journal he wrote, "After mastering the english language, learning hot to build explosives and continous planning to tarted the infidel americans, it is time for jihad."
