Three Charged in Plot to Attack U.S. Financial Centers

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2005 — -- The U.S. Justice Department today charged three men with plotting to attack major financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and the nation's capital.

Dhiran Barot, 32, Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26, and Qaisar Shaffi, 25, are accused of scouting the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the District of Columbia.

The government believes the men were sent to the United States by Osama bin Laden in 2000 and 2001.

"It highlights the nature of the enemy we face -- an enemy that is patient, that is spread throughout the world and that is bent on killing Americans in a spectacular way," U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Comey told a news conference today.

Barot, a British national of Indian descent who is also known as Eisa al-Hindi, was the alleged leader of the plot. The other two defendants are also British nationals.

The government says Barot and his team meticulously scouted and videotaped the buildings for hours. The surveillance was discovered on the computer disk of an al Qaeda suspect arrested in Pakistan last year.

According to government documents obtained by ABC News, Barot appeared fixated on the destructive power of glass as shrapnel.

The group's reconnaissance points to "the abundance of glass" in some buildings, noting that there were "public atriums, skylights and glass doors."

The documents suggest Barot wanted to kill as many people as possible, taking special note of buildings where there was a lack of escape routes.

The suspects observed when the greatest number of people would be entering, leaving and walking in front of the buildings, according to the documents. They also discussed renting office space and "detonating a device from within," the documents say.

"They knew what to look for. They were experts," said Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism official who is now an ABC News consultant.