On this day, Dec. 14, in 1999, Ahmed Ressam was arrested in a plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s Eve.
Known as the Millennium Bomber, Ressam, 34, was arrested as he arrived from Canada by ferry into Washington state. Authorities found 130 pounds of explosives and detonator materials in the wheel well in his car’s trunk.
Ressam, an Algerian, agreed to cooperate with the government for a lenient sentence and provided information about terrorist training camps in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden.
He was sentenced to 22 years, but an appellate court held his sentence as too lenient, and ordered it to be longer.
— Scott McCabe
