Feds Indict New Mexico Terrorist Trainers

FrontPage: The five accused Muslim terrorists arrested in rural New Mexico near the Colorado state line this summer after an alleged school-shooter terrorist training facility was raided Aug. 3 were indicted last week on weapons and conspiracy charges by a federal grand jury.

This is the case in which five adults, including Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, were arrested after authorities found 11 hungry, filthy children living in squalid conditions in a terrorist training compound in Amalia, Taos County, a remote part of New Mexico. The children were reportedly being trained to commit school shootings. The remains of a three-year-old disabled boy, since identified as Wahhaj’s son, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, were discovered on the property which was filled with weapons. The five individuals faced state-level child abuse charges but those were thrown out after local prosecutors failed to conduct preliminary hearings within state-imposed deadlines. The local district attorney said the charges will soon be refiled.

To the horror of law-and-order and counter-terrorism advocates, Judge Sarah C. Backus (D) of the Eighth Judicial District of New Mexico ordered the jihadist quintet released in August. Backus claimed a voter-approved state law left her no choice but to order the release of the defendants on a mere $20,000 bail per defendant with no up-front deposit. Feigning ignorance of the nature of Islamic terrorism, Backus wrote in her decision at the time that even though “[t]he state alleges that there was a big plan afoot … the state hasn’t shown to my satisfaction and by clear and convincing evidence what that plan was.” She added cutely that none of the defendants had a criminal record.

The FBI arrested the defendants on Aug. 31. The day after the indictment was approved by a federal grand jury on Sept. 11, federal Judge Kirtan Khalsa denied bail for all the defendants.  read more