A New Jersey software developer who immigrated to the US from Bogota has been exposed as a spy for the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization.
Alexei Sa’ab, 45, of Morristown was found to be conducting reconnaissance for Hezbollah from 2000 to 2005, searching out targets for US attacks.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that include providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy, receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, unlawful procurement of citizenship to facilitate international terrorism and citizenship application fraud.
With all the charges banded together, Sa’ab could face more than 100 years in prison.
“On paper, he lived a normal life when in reality, he was a sleeper agent for Hezbollah,” Assistant US Attorney Samuel Adelsberg told jurors in an opening statement Monday.
The prosecutor said Sa’ab – who is accused of joining Hezbollah in 1996 — was helping the terror group prepare for attacks on New York’s Fenway Park, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, all three NY area airports, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and the Brooklyn, Triborough and George Washington Bridges, among other targets.
He also scoped out Boston’s Quincy Market – and the Prudential Center – and the Capitol Building, Congress and the White House in Washington DC, if Iran was attacked by the United States.
Sa’ab was also eyeing potential targets for Hezbollah in France, Turkey, and the Czech Republic, Adelsberg said, adding that Sa’ab tried to kill a suspected Israeli spy – but the weapon jammed.
Saab is also facing a marriage fraud charge for allegedly marrying a co-conspirator in 2012 under false pretenses, a charge that was not contested by Saab’s attorney, Marlon Kirton.
