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closeHussein Ali Asfour, 33, of Centerville, was indicted Tuesday in connection with an alleged terror plot to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and machine guns.
Ali Asfour, who also went by the name Alex, was one of five defendants named in the grand jury indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.
Asfour was charged with conspiracy to transport stolen goods. He faces a maximum of five years in prison if convicted.
The indictment centers around one of those charged, Dani Nemr Tarraf, a native of Slovakia, who is accused of trying to purchase the missiles and military rifles. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
According to the indictment, investigators began tracking the group in June 2007, when they bought purportedly stolen video game equipment and cell phones from an undercover law enforcement officer. The undercover agent assigned to the case sold the goods to the network for two years.
During the course of the next two years, the network transported more than 20,000 stolen cell phones and hundreds of video game units.
In about mid-2009, when the network attempted to purchase missiles and machine guns from the undercover officer, investigators closed in.
According to the Department of Justice, in July of this year, Tarraf paid an undercover law enforcement officer in Philadelphia $20,000 toward obtaining about 10,000 M-4 carbine rifles and FIM-92 Stinger missiles. The plot aimed to channel the weapons to “the resistance” in Lebanon and Syria and “take down an F-16,” according to the indictment.
The F-16 is commonly flown by the Israeli Air Force.
Asfour’s alleged role in the plot is unclear. He and three others named in the indictment — Dani Nemr Tarraf, Douri Nemr Tarraf and Hassan Mohamad Komeiha — are charged with transporting “interstate and foreign commerce goods and merchandise with a value in excess of $5,000, knowing the same to have been stolen.”
Six times during the course of two years, Asfour met with an undercover agent to purchase stolen cell phones, the indictment alleges. According to public documents, Asfour resided in the Atlanta area and Macon before buying a home in Centerville. Asfour’s home, now for sale priced at $485,000, is equipped with an elaborate security unit complete with video surveillance, according to the real estate listing.
He is being held by the U.S. District Court of Northern District of Georgia. He will face a detention hearing today.
If Asfour waives extradition, he will “absolutely” be tried by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Philadelphia, said Patricia Hartman, a Department of Justice spokeswoman.
Telegraph reporter Linda S. Morris contributed to this report.
To contact writer Thomas L. Day, call 744-4489.
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