[JURIST] A federal grand jury in the US Southern District of Ohio [official website] on Wednesday charged [DOJ press release] Christopher Paul, from Columbus, Ohio, with conspiring to aid terrorists and use weapons of mass destruction to bomb European tourist sites and US military and government facilities overseas. The indictment [text, PDF] charges Paul with conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, and providing material support and resources to terrorists. According to investigators, Paul traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 1990's to receive military training at an al Qaeda [BBC backgrounder] training camp and, upon his return to the US, continued to funnel money and other resources to al Qaeda. The indictment also alleges that Paul provided explosives training to co-conspirators in Germany to carry out future attacks on European and United States targets. If convicted of all charges, Paul could receive a maximum penalty of life in prison. AP has more.

Two other men from Columbus have also been indicted on terrorism charges. In 2003, Iyman Faris [Global Security profile] was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. In 2004, Nuradin Abdi, a Somali, was charged [JURIST report] with plotting with other al Qaeda operatives to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall. He currently is awaiting trial. Last October, a man from California was indicted [JURIST report] on charges of treason and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, namely al Qaeda.