Is South Florida a Terrorist Hot Spot?
— -- Is South Florida a Terrorist Hot Spot?
F O R T L A U D E R D A L E , Fla., June 24 — Jose Padilla, accused of conspiring to explode a "dirty bomb" in the United States, worked at asuburban Taco Bell and discovered Islam here.
Two young Pakistani immigrants from nearby Hollywood allegedlyhatched a plan to attack South Florida power plants and a NationalGuard Armory.
And several of the Sept. 11 hijackers roamed the area'slibraries, gyms and beachfront motels.
They all made their home — at least temporarily — in SouthFlorida's Broward County, leading some to wonder if this growingsuburban and tourist area north of Miami has become a commondestination for would-be terrorists.
"If you want to have access to all kinds of things that mightappeal to someone who is here for the wrong purposes and want to beable to have a certain level of anonymity, this is certainly theplace to be," said Edward Mandt, dean of the Institute of PublicSafety at Broward Community College.
With miles of strip malls, about 7.5 million tourists visitingevery year and a growing degree of diversity, many say BrowardCounty, and all of South Florida, is an ideal place to keep a lowprofile.
"It's a melting pot. It's not like in Montana where you wouldstick out like a sore thumb," said Ben Graber, a Broward Countycommissioner. "Here you just blend in with the population."
Consider the past nine months:
At least seven of the 19 men who crashed hijacked planes onSept. 11 had spent time in the county. Mohamed Atta and Marwanal-Shehhi went to a Hollywood bar the week before the attacks andplayed video golf. Seven others lived nearby in Palm Beach County'sDelray Beach.
Pakistani immigrants Imran Mandhai, 19, and Shueyb MossaJokhan, 24, of Hollywood were accused this spring of conspiring tobomb electrical transformers and the Israeli Consulate in Miami.
Safraz Jehaludi, a 21-year old computer technician fromMiramar, is being held on charges he sent the FBI anonymous e-mailmessages threatening to blow up the White House and a Florida powerplant. Broward County's latest connection to alleged terrorism hassurfaced mostly strongly with Padilla, who spent about a year inthe county jail and lived in the county for much of the 1990s.
While federal law enforcement officials have questioned whetherPadilla became an extremist during his stay in Florida,investigators have sought out those who worshipped at mosques withthe young man known then as "Ibrahim."
Adham Hassoun, 40, was arrested on an immigration violationearlier this month by members of the South Florida Joint TerrorismTask Force. Two newspapers reported that Hassoun and Padilla wereacquaintances at Masjid Al-Iman, a Fort Lauderdale mosque.
The cases have cast additional scrutiny on South Florida'sburgeoning Muslim community. Recent census figures do not listMuslims, but the number of Broward County residents listing theirethnicity as Arab increased 70 percent during the decade to nearly11,000.
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