The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

Jordanian Native Charged With Threatening Jewish Schools Posted: 22 Mar 2009 12:07 AM PDT A 24-year-old Chicago man was charged Friday with threatening to set off explosives near Jewish schools in the metropolitan area if Israel didn’t halt military actions in Gaza. Mohammed T. Alkaramla, a native of Jordan, was ordered held without bond after being his arrest, according to the FBI. Alkaramla is charged with a felony count of sending an interstate threatening communication and is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney. Authorities allege he sent a letter to the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago on Dec. 30 claiming that explosives would be set off around the school unless the violence in Gaza stopped by Jan. 15. “It (sic) very important to make quick action before we make our decisions to set bombs,” the letter reads. The letter was addressed to rabbis and leaders in the Jewish community and said 22 Jewish educational centers in the Chicago area would also be targeted, according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Timothy Lauster. No explosive devices were planted, and no injuries were reported, the FBI said. Alkaramla was identified as a suspect after fingerprints found on the letter matched prints taken during a 2003 arrest for possession of marijuana in Chicago, the FBI said. In a Feb. 12 search of Alkaramla’s home, agents found a laptop containing most of the threatening letter, Lauster said. The day the letter was sent, the laptop had also been used to run Google searches for terms including “Bomb attack + Israel + letters” and “Jewish Elementary schools in Chicago.” Alkaramla has denied writing the letter and told authorities he’s too busy with work, school and family commitments to send threatening letters to anyone, Lauster said. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Major Terror Attack Averted At Haifa’s Lev Hamifratz Mall Posted: 21 Mar 2009 09:32 PM PDT A major terrorist car bombing was averted at a Haifa mall on Saturday night when one of several explosive devices hidden in a parked vehicle malfunctioned. An Israeli mall. “We believe this is a terrorist incident,” a police statement said. After being alerted by an employee of the Lev Hamifratz shopping center, who reported hearing an explosion at about 8:30 p.m., police sappers were dispatched to scan the area. The sappers found a partially exploded bomb in the trunk of a white Subaru car which was parked outside the shopping center. A further search of the vehicle uncovered several more unexploded bombs, which were neutralized by the sappers. No one was injured. It was not immediately clear how the vehicle managed to get past the security checks at the mall entrance. The car was registered to a woman who lives in Jerusalem, but police would not release her identity. Police immediately moved to evacuate the mall, which was filled with shoppers, and sealed off the area. A major road adjacent to the mall was also closed to traffic, as police went on high alert across the Haifa area. Roadblocks were erected and the police presence was increased in crowded areas. Northern Police spokesman Moshe Weitzman told The Jerusalem Post that “dozens of kilograms of explosives” were uncovered in the car. “We have gone on alert and will remain prepared,” Weitzman said. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

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