Ahmed Ressam (born 9 May 1967) was an Algerian al-Qaeda member who planned to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport during the 2000 millennium attack plots.
Biography[]
Ahmed Ressam was born on 9 May 1967 in Bou Ismail, Algeria to a Sunni Muslim family. He grew up west of Algiers, and he failed his college exams and was turned down when he applied to join the police and security forces. Ressam worked at his father's coffee shop instead, and on 5 September 1992 he left his country due to the Algerian Civil War, illegally migrating to France. He was deported to Morocco in 1993 after his illegal immigration was discovered, and Morocco sent Ressam back to France because he was not Moroccan; he headed to Canada rather than face a hearing in 1994.
Stay in Canada[]
Ressam's fake Canadian ID, portraying him as "Benni Antoine Noris" of Verdun, Canada
Ressam divulged his real name in Canada and applied for refugee status, and he claimed that he had been subjected to torture and abuse at the hands of the Algerian government during the civil war. Ressam met al-Qaeda member Raouf Hannachi at the Assuna mosque in Montreal during his stay in Canada, and Ressam and his roommate Mustapha Labsi were convinced by Hannachi to train at the Derunta training camp in Afghanistan. On 6 June 1995, his refugee application was declined, and on 4 May 1998 a warrant for his arrest was signed while he was away in Afghanistan; from March 1998 to February 1999, he trained at three al-Qaeda camps. A six-person terrorist cell led by Ressam was assembled and sent back to Canada, and they would attack a US airport or consulate before the end of 1999 during the 2000 millennium attack plots.
Millennium attack plots[]
In February 1999, he returned to Montreal with the fake name "Benni Noris", bringing $12,000 with him. He brought hexamine and glycol for making explosives, and he had a notebook with instructions for making bombs. In August 1999, he plotted to destroy Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, believing that it was a politically and economically sensitive target (it was the third-busiest airport in the world). In September 1999, he purchased electronic equipment and components to build detonators, making four timing devices. His old friend Abdelmajid Dahoumane was recruited to help him in procuring explosive materials, and con man Mokhtar Haouari provided continued funding to him. They traveled to Vancouver in British Columbia to prepare the attack, and he boarded a ferry for a 90-minute crossing into the USA after he passed through immigration checks. However, he showed strange behavior, and customs agents searched his car. They found urea white powder (used to manufacture explosives) in ten garbage bags, two lozenge bottles filled with explosives, two plastic bags with aluminum sulfate, two olive jars filled with EGDN (twice as powerful as TNT), and the timing devices, and Ressam fled for six blocks before being captured while trying to hijack a car. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, then to 37 years in 2012.