ATLANTA – One of 7 men accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower admitted to being a member of the group that swore allegiance to Al Qaeda, and told investigators it planned to bomb five FBI buildings, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Lyglenson Lemorin, a Haitian national, also admitted to attending military training in Miami and other parts of Florida to carry out the mission, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Getchell said during Lemorin's hearing before a U.S. magistrate.
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Lemorin is one of seven men suspected in the terror plot who were arrested last week at the group's alleged hide-out in a Miami warehouse.
Getchell said the alleged ringleader, Narseal Batiste, told an FBI informant who posed as an Al Qaeda member that with the terror group's support, he could get his plans going in less than a year.
At repeated meetings with the informant, Batiste said he admired Usama bin Laden, was honored an excited that Al Qaeda would align itself with his group and said he had members in Chicago and Louisiana, Getchell said.
Authorities have said the seven men accused of trying to blow up the Sears Tower with help from al-Qaida never actually made contact with the terrorist network, and were instead caught in an FBI sting involving an informant who posed as an Al Qaeda operative.
According to Getchell, Batiste was planning to take down the Sears Tower with dynamite. Batiste allegedly said he had worked in Chicago for a delivery firm and could count on former employees there to help plan the attack through the underground tunnel system in Chicago.
The prosecution asked that Lemorin be granted no bond.
Getchell said that even if bond were granted, Lemorin would be taken into custody by immigration authorities. Although he's a lawful permanent resident he can be deported based on his admitted alignment with a foreign terrorist organization.
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