Boise man charged with terror plot on military base

Confiding in an informant, a Boise man charged with terrorism admitted before his arrest that his preferred target would be a military base, attacking it with bombs.

According to KTVB, Fazliddin Kurbanov, 31, an Uzbekistan national, came to Boise as a refugee in 2009.  He is accused of channeling personnel, money and software to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.  He has also been indicted in Utah on the charges of trying to recruit new members to the movement and teaching them how to build bombs in order to attack undetermined public transportation targets.

Members of the IMU have fought against the Taliban in Afghanistan.  According to the National Counterterrorism Center, the group seeks to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan and replace it with Islamist leadership.

“For me the best … a military base,” said Kurbanov allegedly to a FBI source during a secretly-recorded conversation. “If I have every stuff… Like bomb, like this and this one. I want to kill a lot of military or every. I don’t know, whatever.”

The FBI’s source, who captured the conversation, was among those who spent hours with Kurbanov as he showed bomb-making videos and discussed the best way to construct explosives.

Kurbanov even boasted to an associate of IMU how easy it was to get the ingredients he needed to build bombs in America, stating in an online message recovered by the FBI, “We are learning this business, but you are more experienced. That’s why you teach us the basics. God willing, it is close… There are plenty of these kind of vehicles we have available here…In just a regular store you know, both the ammonium nitrate and sulfate are available. Gunpowder is available as well. There are AK, M16, bullets, everything.  But we need to know how to connect the wires, how much and what to do. Also it would be great if we learn how to operate the remotely controlled ones. While some are operated remotely, others will be by ourselves. We don’t have many people, but it will be great, God willing.”

KTVB reported that both police and FBI agents seized several hard drives, computers and phones in Kurbanov’s apartment during his arrest in May 2013. The raid also produced a hollow hand grenade, fuse, ammunition and explosive components.

Last month, in response to the defense team’s bid to suppress statement Kurbanov made to the FBI after his arrest, the new information was released in a filing from Prosecutor Aaron Lucoff.

Kurbanov’s defense attorney, Charles Peterson, has argued that the FBI made several mistakes in its handling of his interrogation.  He is accusing agents of asking the suspect two questions before reading him his rights, not providing him an attorney when he asked if his was present, and did not tell him of the charges against him in Utah.

“He did not understand the justice system and his only experience with the law involved questioning in Uzbekistan by authorities who required that he answer their questions,” Peterson wrote in the filing.

A judge will decide whether to suppress any of Kurbanov’s statements during a hearing on Thursday.