User:Wormcast/Scribbles/Nidal Ayyad

Nidal Ayyad is a member of the terrorist cell which carried out a truck bomb attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. Convicted and sentenced to 240 years in prison on March 4, 1994, he is currently detained in Florence, Colorado, United States.

Background
Ayyad was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. He emigrated to the United States in October 1985 and began studying at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He graduated in January 1991 with a degree in chemical engineering In March, 1991 he became a U.S. citizen.

Ayyad was married in Amman, Jordan in 1992" and worked as a chemical engineer for AlliedSignal, Inc.

First World Trade Center bombing

 * On Feb. 25, 1993, he ordered three tanks of compressed hydrogen gas that were used in the World Trade Center truck bombing a day later.
 * "A clearer link to terrorism is evident in the story of Nidal Ayyad, a naturalized U.S. citizen who worked for a New Jersey chemical company. Ayyad was also one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers, and used his position at the company to procure chemicals to make the bomb. At his trial, testimony indicated that Ayyad and his cohorts stole cyanide and were planning to release it in office-building ventilation systems."

Misc material
"Nidal Ayyad was employed as a research engineer for Allied Signal in Morristown, New Jersey. He worked with chemicals used in pharmaceuticals and solvents. According to investigators, Ayyad shared a bank account with Mohammed Salameh, a co-conspirator in the World Trade Center attack in 1993. At least $8,000 was transferred by wire from Europe into the joint bank account, which was later withdrawn by Salameh to help offset the cost of the bombing. Ayyad accompanied Salameh on February 23rd, the day he rented a yellow Ryder van that these murdering Muslims filled with 500 pounds of explosive materials. Together, they drove the bomb into a sub-basement of the World Trade Center and set the timer."

"Mohammed Salameh had Nidal Ayyad's business card in his pocket when he was arrested. Additionally, Mohammed telephoned Nidal four times the day before the February 26th bombing from the public storage locker where the explosive chemicals were mixed."

"In March 1994, Nidal Ayyad was convicted on all counts of conspiracy, explosives charges, and assault for the World Trade Center bombing. He received a sentence of 240 years in prison with no possibility of parole and was sent to a maximum-security U.S. penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Ayyad is also alleged to have ties to El Sayyid Nosair, who was acquitted in the trial for the 1990 assassination of Israeli Rabbi Meir Kahane in Manhattan, but was later convicted of related charges by a jury which didn't capitulate under Islamic threats."

"For example, Nidal Ayyad, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kuwait of Palestinian parents, was hired by Allied Signal Inc. in Morristown, N.J., following his 1991 graduation from Rutgers University. Ayyad used his position at Allied Signal -- where he primarily worked with chemicals used in pharmaceuticals and paints -- to order powerful chemicals on company letterhead. These materials were later used in the construction of the bomb that was used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Ayyad also used the company computer to author the letter that took credit for the bombing in the name of the Liberation Army Fifth Battalion. He was convicted in 1994 of conspiracy, explosives charges and assault."