The Lodi Arrests

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

This week two men in Lodi, California -- Hamid Hayat, age 23, and his father Umer -- were arrested on the charge of lying to federal authorities about the son's training at an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan.  The recently unsealed FBI affidavit outlining why there is probable cause to believe that the two men lied to authorities can be found here.

The sequence of events leading up to this arrest began on May 29, when Hamid Hayat was taking an inbound flight from overseas to the San Francisco airport.  While in flight, it was determined that Hamid was on the federal no-fly list.  Hamid's plane was thus diverted to Japan, where he was interviewed by an FBI agent.  Hamid's status was eventually downgraded from "no fly" to the "selectee list," so that he could continue his travel to the United States.

Back in the U.S., Hamid was interviewed by FBI special agents on June 3 and 4.  On June 3, he denied attending any kind of terrorist training camp or school, and stated that he was not a member of a jihadist organization.  On June 4, Hamid voluntarily appeared at the FBI's Sacramento office to take a polygraph test.  On both occasions, Hamid's father Umer stated that his son had not undergone terrorist training.  In fact, on June 4, according to the FBI affidavit, Umer said "that there were no such training camps in Pakistan."

According to the FBI affidavit, Hamid changed his tune after failing his polygraph and undergoing two further hours of questioning.  The affidavit explains (emphasis supplied):

Hamid admitted that he attended a jihadist training camp in Pakistan for approximately 6 months in 2003-2004. Hamid stated that Al-Qaeda supports the camp and provides instructors for the camp.  Hamid later confirmed this camp was run by Al-Qaeda. Hamid described the camp as providing structured paramilitary training, including weapons training, explosives training, interior room tactics, hand to hand combat, and strenuous exercise.  Classroom instruction included ideological rhetoric detailing opposition towards the United States and other non-Muslim countries.  Hamid stated that during his weapons training, photos of various high ranking U.S. political figures, including President Bush, would be pasted onto their targets.  Hamid further stated that he and others at the camp were being trained on how to kill Americans.  Hamid stated that although he did not participate in all the available instruction he was aware the other training was ongoing.

According to the affidavit, after the camp ended Hamid was allowed to choose the country where he'd carry out his terrorist mission, and he selected the United States.

After the Hayats' arrest, two religious figures in the Lodi Muslim community were detained:  Shabbir Ahmed (the current imam of Lodi's mosque) and Mohammed Adil Khan (its former imam).  Ahmed and Khan had reportedly met with the Hayats before their arrest.  Yesterday it was reported that a fifth Lodi man -- Hassan Adil, 19, the son of Muhammed Adil Khan -- was detained for immigration violations.

A few comments on the case.  One of the interesting aspects of the affidavit, as Evan Kohlmann noted, is the window that it provides into terrorist training camps in Pakistan.  A second issue that the case raises is that individuals on the federal no-fly list routinely make it onto planes when they are traveling to the United States from abroad.  Authorities didn't discover that Hamid Hayat was on the no-fly list until his plane was already in flight; thereafter it was diverted.  Similarly, when Cat Stevens was denied entry to the country last year, authorities didn't realize that he was on the no-fly list until his plane was in the air.  This isn't a sensible way to protect passengers.  We should keep people on the no-fly list from boarding planes in the first place, rather than diverting flights once they're already in the air.

As a final note, the initial version of the FBI affidavit reported that potential targets for attack by Hamid Hayat included hospitals and large food stores.  This would be significant, as it would indicate an al-Qaeda shift in emphasis to "softer" targets.  However, the FBI dropped that suggestion in a second issued version of the affidavit.  At a news conference yesterday, FBI special-agent-in-charge Keith Slotter stated that there was no evidence that those facilities had been targeted "or are especially vulnerable to attack."

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