MIAMI AP – The trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla opened Monday with federal prosecutors arguing the U.S. citizen and two co-defendants were key players in a terror support cell that provided equipment, money and Islamist fighters to extremist groups around the world.
“The defendants were members of a secret organization, a terrorism support cell, based right here in South Florida,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier told jurors in his opening statement. “The defendants took concrete steps to support and promote this violence.”
