Federal agents arrested a man suspected of plotting to set off a bomb in Washington near the US Capitol. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
By msnbc.com staff and NBC News
WASHINGTON ? The FBI and Capitol police arrested a man Friday who thought he was going to carry out a bombing attack on the U.S. Capitol but was in fact dealing with FBI undercover operatives for the past few months, federal officials said.
The man, Amine el Khalifi, 29, who is from Morocco, was arrested about noon ET Friday?near the Capitol?after he received what he thought was a firearm and a vest containing explosives from people he thought were supporters of al-Qaida, sources told NBC News. In fact, the vest had inert material that wasn't hazardous, and the people were FBI agents.
"At no time was the public or Congressional community in any danger," the Capitol police said in a statement.
Khalifi was scheduled to appear Friday afternoon?in U.S. District Court, NBC station WRC of Washington reported.?
Officials told NBC News that the FBI learned in?early December that Khalifi had been talking about wanting to hit a synagogue or a military installation.
By the end, he was willing to carry out a suicide mission, making the case different from most sting operations.?His apparent target was to have been the Capitol visitors' center, because "he wanted to set off the explosives where people would be around," an official said.
Authorities said they believe he was acting alone and probably couldn't have pulled off the attack by himself. That is always the unknown factor in a sting of this kind.
Agents are?conducting searches in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Va., where Khalifi?had been living.?He has apparently been in the United States?illegally for 12 years, officials said.
The case appears similar to the one against?Faisal Shahzad, 32,?a Pakistani-American who pleaded guilty to trying to detonate a car bomb in New York's Times Square on May 1, 2010. He is serving a life sentence in federal prison in Colorado.
NBCNewYorK: The enigma of Faisal Shahzad?
Jonathan Dienst of NBC station WNBC in New York and M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com contributed to this report by NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams.
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