Israel turned away North Carolina terror suspect in 2007
He faces charges in US, along with two sons
RALEIGH, N.C. - Israel denied entry two years ago to members of a North Carolina family that includes three men accused of plotting to execute terror attacks in foreign countries, an official said yesterday.
Daniel Boyd, 39, was arrested Monday with six others, including two sons. Authorities contend Boyd was the ringleader of a group that was preparing for a “violent jihad,’’ though prosecutors have not detailed any specific targets or time frame. If convicted, the men could face life in prison. An eighth suspect is believed to be in Pakistan.
Boyd’s wife, Sabrina, told a Raleigh newspaper that he and one of their sons flew to Israel in 2007 to visit Muslim holy sites but were denied entry and detained for two days. That followed a trip Daniel Boyd had made with another son, who is not charged, to Israel a year earlier. She denied any malevolent motive for their visits.
The US indictment said Boyd and two sons - Zakariya, 20, and Dylan, 22 - traveled to Israel in July 2007 to meet with two of the other defendants but returned home “having failed in their attempt at violent jihad.’’
An Israeli security official confirmed members of the Boyd family were denied entry in 2007. He declined to say why they were stopped or provide further details. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israeli police and the Interior Ministry would not comment.
Sabrina Boyd, 41, urged the public not to rush to judgment.
“We have the right to justice, and we believe that justice will prevail,’’ she said in a statement. “We are decent people who care about other human beings.’’
Yesterday, US Magistrate Judge William A. Webb delayed the detention hearing for the seven suspects. They are now scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
In an interview with the News & Observer of Raleigh, Boyd said the trips abroad her husband and sons made were pilgrimages.
“The point of a pilgrimage is to see the Al-Aksa mosque, the Dome of the Rock, to hear the call to prayer and to make a prayer,’’ she said.
Prosecutors said Boyd received terrorist training years ago in Pakistan and brought the teachings back to North Carolina, recruiting followers willing to die as martyrs waging a holy war.
Frustrated by Raleigh-area mosques that he saw as too moderate, Boyd started breaking away this year to hold prayers in his home, prosecutors said.
In the last two months, he took two group members to north-central North Carolina to practice military tactics and use weapons.
“It’s clear from the indictment that the overt acts in the conspiracy were escalating,’’ US Attorney George E.B. Holding said.
Boyd’s neighbors defended the drywall contractor.
“If he’s a terrorist, he’s the nicest terrorist I ever met in my life. I don’t think he is,’’ said Charles Casale, 46, a neighbor in Willow Spring.
