Abdul Hakim Murad (militant) - Operation Bojinka

Operation Bojinka

Murad was a co-conspirator with Ramzi Yousef who was one of the main perpetrators and creator of the bomb for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. After moving to the Philippines under the direction of his uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed planned the unsuccessful Bojinka Plot which would set the pattern for the later Al Queda September 11 attacks. The plan involved assassinating Pope John Paul II during a visit to the Philippines then, while attention was drawn to the Pope's death, bombs would be placed inside toy cars and planted on airline flights out of Bangkok, killing thousands.

After successfully testing and detonating his deadly bomb on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, Yousef returned to Manila and began preparing at least a dozen bombs each with a higher concentration of explosive materials. But just weeks before the Bojinka Plot was due to be launched, Murad was mixing chemicals which started a fire on January 6, 1995. Yousef and Murad fled the fire, but Murad was sent back retrieve the laptop computer in the apartment, which contained the plans for the attack. He called himself Ahmed Saeed as he was being arrested. He offered 110,740 Philippine pesos ($2,000 U.S. dollars) to the Manila police if they let him go. Although they did not make that much money in a year, Aida Fariscal, the watch commander, refused to let him go. Police grew suspicious after "Saeed" mumbled that, "two Satans that must be destroyed: the Pope and America." This led a further search of room 603, where they found a bomb factory and a computer with data relating to the plot.

His interrogations by Philippine National Police Intelligence consisted of waterboarding, being beaten with chairs and lumber, and having cigarettes extinguished on his penis and testicles. A Philippine National Police raid in another Manila apartment also revealed evidence that Abdul Murad, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Yousef had drawn up plans for flying an airplane into the CIA headquarters. The information was passed on to the FAA who warned individual airlines. As part of the Bojinka plot, Murad was slated to bomb two United Airlines aircraft, and was also slated to be the suicide pilot that would pilot a small plane filled with explosives into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

Information about plane bombings was sent to the FBI. Abdul Hakim Murad was sent to the United States on April 12, 1995 and would later help convict Yousef based on Murad's testimony. Murad was convicted on September 5, 1996 of seven counts of conspiring and attempting to bomb 12 planes. On May 16, 1998, Murad received a life sentence to prison. Murad, Federal Bureau of Prisons #37437-054, is currently serving his time in FCI Terre Haute, in Terre Haute, Indiana.