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Homegrown terror suspects arrested in Ga.

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Published: Dec. 12, 2012 at 10:21 AM

ATLANTA, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Police arrested a terror suspect at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, alleging he was bound for Africa in a plot to attack U.S. interests.

Federal officials said Randy Wilson, 25, of Mobile, Ala., was arrested in Atlanta while his alleged accomplice, Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair, 25, also of Mobile, was arrested at a bus station in Augusta, Ga., Tuesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

U.S Justice Department officials said in a criminal complaint the men, both U.S. citizens, planned to travel to Morocco then to Mauritania to "prepare to wage violent jihad." Once in Mauritania, Wilson and Abukhdair were going to provide material support to terrorists to kill Americans or damage U.S. property abroad, authorities said.

The complaint was filed with the U.S. District Court in Alabama, Justice Department officials said. When they were arrested, the men under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Mobile, Ala.

The Constitution said the two reportedly met online in 2010.

The criminal complaint said Wilson was a friend and ex-roommate of Omar Hammami, an American and member of the Somali militant group al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate. Hammami has been indicted on U.S. terrorism charges and is listed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.

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