Federal authorities have arrested a Maryland man for allegedly providing and conspiring to provide support to a Pakistani terrorist group. 

The four-count indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on September 14, 2005, charges Ali Asad Chandia, 28, with providing and conspiring to provide equipment and material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist group designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization in 2001. 

The indictment asserts that Chandia, who was arrested at his home in College Park, Maryland, served as an assistant to Ali al-Timimi, a Muslim scholar who is serving a life sentence for advising his followers to engage in terrorist activities against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.  Federal authorities claim Chandia scheduled appearances on behalf of Timimi in the U.S.

The indictment also charges another man, Mohammed Ajmal Khan, with acting as a procurement officer for Lashkar-e-Taiba.  Khan is currently in British custody. 

Chandia’s arrest is the latest in what prosecutors call the “Virginia Jihad” case.  In earlier trials, 10 people were convicted on various charges, including plotting to attack Americans abroad by providing aid to Lashkar-e-Taiba.