Undercover FBI ‘jihadi’ was reported as terrorist

The FBI claimed a success when sting tactics led to the arrest of a suspected terrorist in Portland, Oregon, last month - but it transpires that a similar ploy failed in spectacular style when an informant tasked with infiltrating a Californian mosque attracted so much suspicion that he was himself reported to the FBI.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud (above), 19, was arrested last month in Portland for attempting to detonate a phoney car bomb that had been supplied by the FBI – leading to accusations of entrapment against the security agency.

Now a fascinating insight into FBI infiltration techniques is offered by the Washington Post, which tells the story of an informant and his inept attempts to gain the trust of a group of Muslims – and apparently induce them to confess to terrorist activities.

Craig Monteilh's less-than-subtle surveillance techniques and open references to jihad led worshippers to contact his employers to say they believed he was planning a terror attack.

He would often leave a set of keys – which contained a tiny microphone for relaying conversations back to the FBI ­ around the mosque in Irvine, California, which was seen as unusual behaviour.

And one worshipper, Omar Kurdi, was taken aback by some of Monteilh's conversations. "We started hearing that he was saying weird things," said Kurdi. "He would walk up to one of my friends and say, 'It's good that you guys are getting ready for jihad.'"

In another apparently hamfisted attempt to get associates from the mosque to talk about terrorism, Monteilh - who was operating as Farouk al-Aziz - taped a conversation with two men in a car in May 2007, nine months after he joined the mosque.

The pair got in touch with Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic relations, to tell him their concerns. Ayloush said: "They said Farouk had told them he had access to weapons and that they should blow up a mall. They were convinced he was a terrorist."

Ayloush reported Monteilh to the FBI but the agency took no action against their informant - so mosque worshippers eventually resorted to getting a restraining order from the Orange County Superior Court to keep him away from them.

Monteilh has since left the FBI and has begun tracking down Muslims from the Irvine mosque to apologise to them for "disrespecting their community and religion". ·