A Texas resident indicted for attempting to provide financial support and other goods to Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen and Saudi Arabia is the latest in a series of American citizens charged with terror-related offenses who previously communicated with an American-born Muslim cleric who encourages attacks against America and the West.
On June 3, 2010, Barry Walter Bujol, Jr., 29, was indicted in a Texas federal court for attempting to provide material support to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and for aggravated identity theft. Bujol faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.
"This arrest is a sobering reminder of the threat we continue to face," FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers said. "It remains the FBI's overriding priority to predict and prevent terrorist attacks, at home and abroad."
Bujol, an American citizen from Hempstead, Texas, drew the attention of federal authorities in 2008 after he exchanged e-mails with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim cleric living in Yemen who has been described by the FBI as "a known associate and propagandist for AQAP." According to the Department of Justice, Buloj allegedly asked al-Awlaki how to provide money to the "mujahideen," or Muslim warriors, overseas. In return, al-Awlaki provided Bujol with a document entitled "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad."
Al-Awlaki has been linked to several other accused terrorists who have carried out attacks against the U.S. The Yemeni-based cleric reportedly exchanged more than a dozen emails with Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged gunman who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas in November 2009, and reportedly met with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who attempted to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam on Christmas Day 2009.
The Department of Justice further alleged that Bujol made three unsuccessful attempts in February and March 2009 to travel to Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East. The following fall, he told an FBI source posing as an AQAP operative that he wanted to travel overseas to fight with the terrorist organization. The law enforcement source subsequently provided Bujol with a false identification card, which Bujol used to gain access to a secure area of a Texas port to board a ship bound for the Middle East. The law enforcement source also allegedly provided Bujol with public access-restricted U.S. military publications, including material about UAV operations and the effects of U.S. military weapon systems in operations in Afghanistan, to give to AQAP.
Bujol, who also planned to deliver money, pre-paid telephone calling cards, mobile telephone SIM cards, global positioning system receivers and a military-issue compass to AQAP, was arrested by federal agents after he boarded the ship on May 30, 2010.
