Moroccan man arrested in plot ‘to bomb US Capitol’

“They came in without any sirens or anything. They knew he was coming and were
expecting him. They were staked out in their cars and let him drive in
before they grabbed him.”

Khalifi had reportedly been under surveillance for months and was said to be
mulling a range of targets including an unnamed military base, synagogues
and a local restaurant popular with American generals, before settling on
the Capitol last month.

Within hours of his arrest, he appeared in a federal court in neighbouring
Virginia where he was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass
destruction against US government property.

Few details were available last night but authorities said that he entered the
country legally as a 16-year-old in 1999 but stayed long after his visa
expired.

According to court documents, he came to the attention of the FBI in January
last year and was introduced to an agent codenamed ‘Yusuf’, with whom
confided.

Khalifi said that he wanted to use a gun during the attack because it would
allow him to “kill people face-to-face”, according to the agent’s affidavit.

The case was one of a number in the US in the last year where alleged ‘lone
wolf’ operatives were arrested after meetings with agents posing as
terrorists.

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