Jordanian arrested over plot to bomb Dallas skyscraper

Following an undercover FBI operation a Jordanian man has been arrested after he plotted to blow up a 60 storey glass office tower in central Dallas with a car bomb.

Husein Smadi, an illegal immigrant to the US, had been under continuous surveillance by the FBI, who had also smuggled inert explosives into the car bomb in order to render it harmless.

Smadi was arrested on Ross Avenue in Dallas and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

In order to foil the attack, undercover FBI agents posed as members of an al Qaeda ‘sleeper’ cell. Smadi told the agents that he had specifically come to the US to commit a ‘self-jihad’.

According to the prosecutors, Smadi conducted reconnaissance and identified potential targets in the Dallas area including a Wells Fargo Bank.

Smadi allegedly wanted to conduct the attacks on September 11 but decided to wait until after the month of Ramadan, which ended on September 20

The special agent in charge of the operation said: “This case serves as a reminder of the continuing threats of terrorism we face as a nation."

Federal authorities said the arrest of Smadi was not linked to other terror investigations that are ongoing in New York and Colorado.