Plea Hearing Set for Ashburn Man Accused in Metro Plot

UPDATE: Ahmed sentenced to 23 years. More information to come.

The Ashburn man who federal investigators charged with plotting to bomb Metro station in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area was expected in court today, April, 11, for a plea hearing in Alexandria, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

After a lengthy sting operation, authorities arrested Belmont Greene resident Farooque Ahmed in October on charges that he participated in planning an attack to bomb Metro and hotel sites. According to the indictment, the Pakistani-born U.S. citizen first came to the attention of terrorism investigators when he sought online a way to commit jihad overseas.

After meeting with people he believed to be involved with the terrorism group al-Qaeda, according to the indictment, Ahmed confirmed his desire to harm U.S. military personnel. He then agreed to conduct surveillance of potential bombing targets in the DC region, according to the document.

In addition, investigators allege that Ahmed offered additional targets for the bombings and suggested ways to make the proposed attacks more successful and more deadly.

Today’s hearing was expected to start 12:30 p.m. with U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee presiding.