How The U.S. Nabbed Alleged Terrorists in Toledo

A retired U.S. Special Forces soldier helped the FBI to uncover an alleged nascent terror cell in Toledo, Ohio, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney in Cleveland Thomas Getz. Three men, two U.S. citizens originally from Jordan and one U.S. resident from Lebanon, had asked the former U.S. commando for help in coordinating "jihad training exercises," according the indictment. But what the suspects didn't know was that the retired soldier was working with investigators all along.

Identified in court papers only as "the Trainer," he earned the trust of the three men because, says Getz, "he was from the Muslim community." Getz would not say if "the Trainer" is of Arab descent or a long-time Muslim but said that he had cooperated voluntarily with the government from the beginning of the investigation going back at least to November 2004 and he was "acting on behalf of the [U.S.] government" the entire time.

The suspects, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi and Wassam Mazloum, have all been living in the Toledo area for over a year, according to the indictment, and had studied how to build explosives and suicide vests with the intention of travel to Iraq to engage in "holy war" by attacking American soldiers. The men raised money for the operation, considered setting up a front charity organization and used an indoor shooting range for target practice, said the indictment. The men had jobs that provided potential cover for traveling to the Middle East. El-Hindi works as a recruiter for European medical schools. Mazloum is the owner of a local car dealership. Mohammad Amawi operates a small travel agency. El-Hindi, a married father of seven children ages 6 months to 11 years old, claims he was arrested Sunday by agents who entered his home without knocking and seized him at gunpoint. Says his lawyer, Stephen Hartman: "He steadfastly maintains his innocence." All three men pleaded not guilty on Tuesday and are being held in a federal correctional facility in Milan, Michigan, until their detention hearing on Feb. 24.

The planning for operations was at an "early stage" according to a Justice Department official, who said "Don't clear the front page for it," but [the case is] "pretty significant." When asked if there was a connection to Toledo charity KindHearts, that had its assets frozen by the Treasury Department on Feb. 19 for alleged ties to Hamas, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales demurred. "What I can say is that they're separate investigations," he said. "They also happen to be coordinated investigations." A Justice Department official went further: "The investigations have some nexus," he said, adding that the three men indicted Tuesday were not directly connected to KindHearts. Despite the fact that the indictment shows only the early stages of planning for terrorism, Gonzales defended his department's proactive approach. "We cannot wait until an attack happens," he said.

With reporting by David Thigpen