CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors charged a Chicago cabdriver Friday with attempting to provide funds for explosives to al-Qaeda and discussing a possible bomb attack on an unspecified stadium in the United States this summer.
Raja Lahrasib Khan, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin, was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Khan spoke with another man identified in the complaint only as Individual B on March 11 and appeared to be talking about an attack on an unspecified stadium within the United States, according to the complaint.
Khan allegedly said bags containing remote-controlled bombs could be placed within the stadium and then, “boom, boom, boom, boom,” prosecutors said.
The balding, bearded Khan, clad in a wrinkled nylon jacket, rumpled pants and sneakers, appeared briefly before U.S. Magistrate Geraldine Soat Brown on Friday afternoon. She ordered him held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center pending a status hearing set for Tuesday.
He was represented at the initial appearance by Daniel McLoughlin, a staff attorney with the federal defender program.
