HOUSTON, June 4 (UPI) -- A Texas man accused of trying to help al-Qaida by providing it with technology and sensitive information has been ordered held without bond, authorities say.
A federal grand jury that indicted Barry Walter Bujol Jr., 29, of Hempstead charges him with trying to give al-Qaida global positioning instruments, cellphones and a restricted publication detailing U.S. military weapons used in Afghanistan.
The Houston Chronicle reported Friday Bujol, a U.S. citizen, was shackled at the waist and ankles when he appeared Thursday before a U.S. magistrate who ordered him held by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Bujol is also accused of attempting to provide currency, prepaid phone cards and mobile telephone SIM cards, the newspaper said.
Federal agents arrested Bujol at the Port of Houston as he was boarding a ship bound for the Middle East, court documents show.
Bujol had made three unsuccessful attempts during February and March 2009 to leave the country and travel to Yemen or elsewhere in the Middle East, documents say.
"This arrest is a sobering reminder of the threat we continue to face," said Richard Powers, head of the FBI's Houston division. "It remains the FBI's overriding priority to predict and prevent terrorist attacks, at home and abroad."
Prosecutors said the FBI began investigating Bujol, a part-time window washer, in 2008 when it was determined he was sending e-mail messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, a propagandist for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Chronicle reported.
