FBI Arrest Terror Suspects On Way To Afghanistan

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KTLA) — Four men with ties to Southern California have been charged with plotting to join Al Qaeda and the Taliban in order to kill Americans overseas. The suspects have been identified as Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, of Pomona, Ralph Deleon, 23, of Ontario, Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 21, of Upland and Arifeen David Gojali, 21, of Riverside. According to the criminal complaint, Kabir, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, introduced Deleon and Santana to “radical and violent Islamic doctrine” back in 2010. Kabir allegedly left the United States last year and traveled to Afghanistan in July to set up terrorist training with Al Qaeda and Taliban members, according to the criminal complaint. Over the course of the past several months, Deleon, Santana and Gojali made numerous plans to join Kabir, according to the 77-page complaint. The three exposed their connection to each other and their radical leanings explicitly on Facebook for over a year. And one of them detailed his intentions to participate in jihad in an online chat with an undercover FBI informant. The “confidential source” won the trust of Santana and Deleon, according to the complaint, and spent time with them and recorded many of their conversations. In addition, the defendants described potential targets for violent attacks, including overseas American military personnel and bases, the complaint says. In one discussion with the confidential source, Santana and Deleon discussed their preferred roles in carrying out attacks. Santana and Deleon allegedly pre-trained on a firing range and at a paintball center and took the confidential source along with them. Deleon told the confidential source he would quit school and withdraw his tuition money to help pay for the trip to Afghanistan, the criminal complaint said. Santana told the confidential source said he would like to drive a truck bomb, if he could do it with a big truck. “Just drive it into like the baddest military base,” he said, according to the document. “If I’m gonna do, I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna take out a whole base.”

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