A Florida man who went shopping for al Qaeda flags has been arrested following a sting operation in which he was allegedly caught on tape planning attacks with bombs and guns in the Tampa area.
Separately, authorities in Baltimore said a former U.S. Army soldier trained in intelligence work was arrested for trying to join the Somali terrorist group al Shabaab.
In Florida, Sami Osmakac, 25, was arrested Saturday night and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction—a homemade bomb. Authorities said the suspect, a U.S. citizen born in Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia, never received operable weapons or explosives during the sting and the public was never in danger from the operation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Mr. Osmakac was reported to authorities by a business manager who later became his boss. Mr. Osmakac had originally gone to the business, which wasn’t identified, seeking to buy al Qaeda flags, according to court papers. The unidentified business manager had provided information to the FBI in the past and was paid for work in connection with the Osmakac investigation, officials said.
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