3 Seized With Bomb Are Syrian Terrorists, FBI Says

WASHINGTON — The federal government alleged today that three men arrested in Vermont for smuggling a bomb across the Canadian border are members of a Syrian terrorist organization responsible for the 1982 assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel.

The allegation was contained in an FBI affidavit which the government submitted in recommending the three Lebanese-born Canadian citizens be given the maximum prison terms allowed under law.

It is believed to be the first time alleged Middle East terrorists have been arrested in the United States carrying explosives, Justice Department spokesman John Russell said.

The three men arrested on Oct. 23, 1987, in Richford, Vt., after being spotted by the local police chief “are members of a Lebanese-based organization known as the Syrian Social National Party,” Floyd Clarke, head of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, said in an affidavit.

Clarke’s affidavit said the FBI does not have enough information to identify conclusively the intended bomb target of the three men.

Walid Mourad pleaded guilty on Jan. 26, 1988, to conspiring to transport explosives and an immigration violation and faces up to 10 years in prison.

George Younan and Walid Kabbani were found guilty by a jury of several explosives violations and an immigration violation. Younan faces up to 35 years in prison and Kabbani faces up to 30 years, six months.

The SSNP is responsible for car bombings in Lebanon in 1985 and 1986 which killed 105 people and injured 378, as well as the 1982 assassination of Gemayel, said Clarke’s affidavit.