A New Jersey Muslim software engineer lived a dark double life as a “sleeper agent” in an elite Hezbollah unit, scouting terror targets in New York City for the militant group, federal prosecutors charged at the start of his trial Monday. Alexei Saab is charged with providing support to a terrorist group, citizenship fraud, receiving military training from a terrorist group, fraudulent marriage, and other charges. He faces dozens of years in prison if convicted on all counts.
NY Post Alexei Saab, 45, of Morristown — also known as Ali Hassan Saab, Alex Saab, or “Rachid” — was charged in a nine-count indictment for allegedly providing material support to the deadly organization. He kept up appearances as a “normal” law-abiding US citizen — all while gathering intelligence on a number of Big Apple landmarks, tunnels and bridges, Assistant US Attorney Sam Adelsberg said in his opening statement.
Saab allegedly moved to the U.S. in 2000 from Lebanon with a secret mission to apply for citizenship and plan a future attack on behalf of the militant group designated a foreign terrorist organization.
“He posed as a regular guy,” Adelsberg said. “In reality, he was a sleeper agent for Hezbollah ready to strike.” Saab was recruited by the terror organization as a college student in Lebanon and rose up the ranks, ultimately enlisting in the “external security organization,” or unit 910, the prosecutor alleged.
In the early 2000s, Hezbollah dispatched Saab and other “spies” to countries including the US — putting them in place to kill Americans if the US attacked Iran, the group’s main ally, he said. “He was sent by Hezbollah to set up a sleeper cell right here in this city,” Adelsberg told jurors.
Between 2000 and 2005, the Morristown resident allegedly surveilled potential targets for Hezbollah — including the Brooklyn Bridge, the Midtown tunnel, the George Washington Bridge and even the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan where his trial is now taking place. The prosecutor said Saab also surveyed buildings in Boston, Washington D.C., and other cities abroad and tried to murder an Israeli spy in the 1990s.
Saab allegedly gathered “details like, how buildings were constructed. How close one could get to a building to plant a bomb as part of an attack. And whether these buildings or landmarks had weaknesses or soft spots Hezbollah could exploit,” Adelsberg said.
Saab, a US citizen since 2008, was arrested by the feds in 2019 and charged with several counts, including terrorism, for allegedly providing material support to the deadly organization.
Defense attorney Marlon Kirton said the Justice Department’s case is built almost entirely on statements Saab made to investigators before he had been informed of his Miranda rights. Kirton also argued Hezbollah has never attacked US citizens in America – and that Saab was recruited into the group amid regional conflict between Lebanon and Israel.
“No evidence as of today that Hezbollah has attacked people here in America,” Kirton said in his opening statement.
Dave says
There are probably hundreds just like him lying in wait for the opportunity to attack Americans from within. I’m sure that the Muslims among us have already stocked high grade explosives in their homes and mosques for the big day.
But hopefully, the intelligence agencies have already obtained the names of others in his sleeper cell, so that they can determine the full extent of the network, get needed watrrants, and arrest the entire group.
Several years ago, a federal judge in New York ordered the NYPD to stop their surveillance of Muslims, which by the way yielded intelligence of genuine Muslim terror threats and terror networks. The judge seemed to ignore the rights of us New Yorkers to be free of the scourge of Muslim criminality and plotting to set off bombs in our midst.
Andrew+Blackadder says
I often wonder how they find these guys after so many years.
When he is put in Prison the muslims in there will treat him like a king, a sheik, and as he must have made a lot of money I suggest he be charged for his upkeep, his accommodation, his food, his health care, any books that he wants, clothing other than Prison garb and even the soap and shampoo he MAY use while in Prison as US Taxpayers paying for the upkeep of somebody who wanted us all dead seems a bit too much to ask.
Linda Rivera says
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush…..
There are millions like this God Hater in America waiting for the time to attack Americans.
Hoyt says
These filthy animals! When will the USA wake up and realize Islam is incompatible with any values that we have here ? In fact Islam is incompatible with any and all ideas
Fuck you cair you pussies
Fritz the Cat says
In the meantime, we have a southern border entirely open to anyone who wants to come across unvetted. It’s easy. Fly to Mexico City from the ME and join the crowd. But, domestic terrorism i.e. white supremacism is the real threat, doncha know?