New Jersey software developer was sleeper Hezbollah agent who planned terror attacks on US landmarks

A software engineer living in New Jersey for the past 22 years was leading a double life as a “sleeper agent” for the Hezbollah militant organisation, surveying landmarks in US for terror attacks from 2000 to 2005, federal prosecutors said on Monday.

Alexei Saab, 45, of Morristown, — also known as Ali Hassan Saab, Alex Saab, or “Rachid”—had a double identity.

By the day, he was a software engineer working in big tech companies and trying to pass off as an American citizen.

By night, he was “a terrorist and spy” trying to attack Americans at popular locations if Iran was attacked by the US, said Assistant US Attorney Samuel Adelsberg, reports AP news agency.

Saab was arrested in July 2019 after being questioned during 11 sessions over several weeks with FBI agents. He remained in federal custody.

It is being claimed that Saab provided photos and other detailed intel on New York City landmarks and transportation hubs to Hezbollah in 2003.

Saab had reconned dozens of locations in New York City, including the United Nations headquarters, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building, the federal offices at 26 Federal Plaza, and local airports, tunnels, and bridges, including the George Washington Bridge.

Saab joined Hezbollah in 1996, and his earliest activities with the group include spying in Lebanon on the movements of Israeli and Southern Lebanese Army soldiers, and intelligence-gathering in Istanbul, the indictment alleges.

In 2000, Saab lawfully entered the United States using a Lebanese passport, and he became a naturalised US citizen in 2008, the indictment alleges.

Meanwhile, the alleged spy’s lawyer Saab’s lawyer, Marlon Kirton, argued that all the evidence in the case was from Saab himself and could not be considered reliable, according to AP.

And he noted that Hezbollah had never attacked Americans in the United States.

Saab has pleaded not guilty to charges related to terrorism and citizenship application fraud.