The two men the feds just charged with terrorism and firearms related charges for plotting to attack a military installation in Seattle allegedly worried they were “gonna look like fools” if they ran out of ammunition and used the password “OBL” (for Osama bin Laden) for picking up bus tickets.
FBI officials were monitoring 33-year-old Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif (aka Joseph Anthony Davis) of Seattle and 32-year-old Walli Mujahidh (aka Frederick Domingue) of Los Angeles when they took possession of machine guns they purchased and were planning to use to attack the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) located on East Marginal Way, Seattle.
A source with at least five felony convictions and a misdemeanor conviction approached law enforcement officials, claiming that Abdul-Latif had attempted to recruit him into the conspiracy to attack the building on May 30. At first, they allegedly wanted to attack the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State with grenades and machine guns, but later changed targets.
Abdul-Latif allegedly struggled to get together $70 to buy a plane ticket to get Mujahidh to Seattle, and Mujahidh later said he preferred to travel by bus. His bus was set to leave Los Angeles on Monday and get into Seattle on Tuesday. They joked that the password they used to pick up the ticket should be “jihad,” but they settled on “OBL” for Osama bin Laden.
In order to afford the weapons — inoperable guns that were being provided to the cooperating source by the FBI — Abdul-Latif said he had to go get $800 that a friend was holding for him that he planned to use for religious travel.
“I just took out my money I was going to use for hajj… this better be on the up-and-up with this brother,” Abdul-Latiff allegedly said.
Abdul-Latiff also allegedly discussed saving up more money for additional ammunition:
“I gave you all my money for this thing,” Abdul-Latiff later allegedly said. He also told his fellow suspect and the cooperating source that they should all agree not to talk to police if they got caught and refuse to take any deals.
Abdul-Latiff later waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak to FBI agents. In a video and audio recorded interview, he allegedly admitted he was planning to attack the U.S. to prevent them from going to Islamic lands and killing Muslims.
