Illinois man arrested in jihadi bomb plot

Chicago Sun-Times:

A Downstate man has been arrested on terrorism-related charges for an alleged scheme this week to blow up the federal courthouse in the state capital, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Lang said that Michael C. Finton, of Downstate Decatur, who also uses the name “Talib Islam,” was arrested on charges of attempted murder of federal employees and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

“This alleged plot drives home the stark reality that we must avoid complacency and remain ever vigilant to the threats that violent extremists may pose to public safety,” said Lang, the lead federal prosecutor in the Central District of Illinois.

Federal agents were monitoring Finton, 29, at the time of his arrest after learning that he had allegedly written John Walker Lindh, an American who fought with the Taliban and whom Finton is said to have idolized. Finton also traveled to Saudi Arabia last year.

Finton allegedly communicated to a federal informant about his desire to receive military training and travel to the Middle East to become a jihadist fighter, according to a federal complaint.

Last February, Finton began meeting with an undercover FBI agent posing as a “low level al-Queda operative” and over a period of months discussed bombing locations in the U.S., including the Paul Findley Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Springfield, prosecutors said.

...

He apparently engaged in some overt acts. It is easy to characterize this guy as an unstable whack job, but then that description probably fits most of those in the mass murder for Allah business.

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