BOSTON, July 21, (Agencies): An American supporter of al-Qaeda pleaded guilty Friday to plotting to bomb the Pentagon and US Capitol using remote-controlled model planes laden with explosives.
Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, admitted to attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to damage and destroy federal buildings by means of an explosive.
Federal Judge Richard Stearns accepted his plea and set a final sentencing hearing for November 1.
According to his agreement with US prosecutors, Ferdaus will be sentenced to 17 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation. In return for his guilty plea, the government agreed to drop four other charges against him.
Ferdaus kept quiet during the one-hour hearing. Several relatives, including his parents, attended the session.
Authorities described Ferdaus as an unmarried physics graduate from Boston’s Northeastern University. The al-Qaeda supporter reportedly committed himself to “violent jihad” early last year.
He was arrested in September as part of a sting operation in which FBI agents posed as members of al-Qaeda.
During the investigation, Ferdaus described to undercover agents his step-by-step plan of attack, Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Siegmann said.
The prosecutor said Ferdaus told the agents he planned to use aircraft filled with grenades and mobile phone-activated explosives to bring about the “downfall of this disgusting place,” the United States.
Ferdaus was also accused of modifying mobile phones for use as switches in bombs to kill US soldiers in Iraq and to having given the devices to FBI agents “he believed were members of or recruiters for al-Qaeda.”
A white Playboy bunny graced the tail end of one of three model planes filled with C4 plastic explosives, slated to hit the Pentagon or blow the Capitol’s dome “to smithereens,” he was quoted as saying in court files.
According to the original complaint, when told — falsely — that one of his phones had been part of a bomb that killed three soldiers, Ferdaus said: “That was exactly what I wanted.”
Ferdaus grew up in Massachusetts and has a physics degree from Boston’s Northeastern University.
Prosecutors said Ferdaus began planning jihad, or holy war, against the United States in 2010 after becoming convinced through jihadi websites and videos that America was evil. He later contacted a federal informant and began meeting to discuss the plot with undercover agents.
Authorities said the explosives were always under the control of federal agents and the public was never in danger. Counterterrorism experts and model-aircraft enthusiasts say it would be nearly impossible to inflict large-scale damage using model planes.
But both inside and outside court Friday, prosecutors described an elaborate plan they said Ferdaus was committed to carrying out.
Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Siegmann said that if the case had gone to trial, prosecutors would have used recordings on which Ferdaus is heard detailing the plot.
Siegmann said there were two main parts of his plan: to blow up the Pentagon and US Capitol using remote-controlled planes and to kill American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan using improvised explosive devices detonated by modified cellphones.
The planes, measuring 60 to 80 inches (up to 2 meters) in length and capable of speeds greater than 100 mph (160 kph), would be guided by GPS and packed with 5 pounds (2.27 kilograms) each of plastic explosives.
Siegmann said Ferdaus traveled to Washington, DC, to scout out his targets and later gave the undercover agents surveillance photos and maps. She said Ferdaus told them his plan “ought to terrorize” and “ought to result in the downfall of this entire disgusting place.”
Siegmann said Ferdaus modified 12 cellphones so they could act as an electrical switch for an IED.
After giving the first device to the undercover agents, the agents lied and told him it had been used in Iraq and killed three US soldiers.
Siegmann said Ferdaus was “visibly excited” to learn his device had been used successfully and said, “That was exactly what I wanted.”
Ferdaus told Judge Richard Stearns that he was being treated for mild depression and anxiety before he was arrested and is now taking anti-anxiety medication.
During an earlier court hearing, Ferdaus’ lawyers suggested that the FBI ignored signs of mental illness in Ferdaus while investigating him. An FBI agent acknowledged that the FBI had received reports about bizarre behavior by Ferdaus, including a report to Hopkinton police about one incident in which authorities say he stood in the road not moving and appeared to have wet his pants.
When asked Friday whether Ferdaus’ mental health was taken into account when making the 17-year sentencing recommendation, First Assistant US Attorney Jack Pirozzolo cited Ferdaus’ composed responses to the judge’s questions and the judge’s comment that Ferdaus is “obviously an intelligent and well-educated young man.”
“He answered clearly; he was lucid,” Pirozzolo said.
Siegmann said the defense didn’t request a mental examination.