A Virginia man has been arrested and indicted on charges he tried to help people he believed were al-Qaeda operatives in planning to bomb subway stations in and around the nation's capital.

Enlarge File photo by Tim Dillon, USA TODAY D.C. Metro trains load passengers at the Smithsonian Station just below the National Mall in 2005. The FBI said Wednesday that the public was never in danger as the agency followed and charged a man suspected of planning to bomb stations. WASHINGTON  A 34-year-old Virginia man accused of plotting attacks against local subway stations first attracted the attention of the FBI in January when he began talking with associates about his interest in contacting a terror organization to wage war against U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to federal court documents disclosed Thursday. Farooque Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, later told undercover federal investigators of his interest in joining the fight and that he had been training with firearms or other weapons for four years in preparation for an expected trip to the battlefield abroad. "Ahmed…discussed the various firearms he has used and purchased, including rifles and a shotgun, and stated that he had been to a shooting range," FBI special agent Charles Dayoub wrote in an affividat supporting the government's request to search Ahmed's Ashburn, Va., home. INDICTMENT DOCUMENT: Read USA v. Farooque Ahmed He "also noted that he had studied martial arts…learned knife and gun techniques and learned disarming techniques. Ahmed said that he could teach these skills to others and indicated that he could purchase additional firearms," according to the court documents. In a Sept. 28 meeting with undercover agents, Ahmed allegedly said he "might be ready" for travel by January 2011 after he completed a November pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in observance of the Hajj. Ahmed allegedly suggested to the investigators, who he believed to be agents of al-Qaeda, that they should accompany him on the Muslim pilgrimage in preparation for martyrdom. Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that the public was never in danger during the seven-month investigation. "It's chilling that a man from Ashburn is accused of casing rail stations with the goal of killing as many Metro riders as possible through simultaneous bomb attacks," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said. Ahmed, dressed in casual clothes and dark-rimmed glasses, made a brief court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Alexandria, Va., where he was formally charged with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. If convicted, he faces a maximum punishment of 50 years in prison. Magistrate Judge John Anderson agreed to appoint a lawyer to represent Ahmed after the defendant said he could not afford to retain his own counsel. Ahmed will remain in custody pending a Friday detention hearing, said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria. The defendant is the latest in a string of U.S. citizens who have been implicated in terrorist plots against the United States. In speeches earlier this week, both FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano identified the radicalization of U.S. citizens as one of the most serious concerns facing anti-terrorism operations. Court documents allege that Ahmed began plotting April 18, when he drove to a hotel in Dulles, Va., and met with an undercover agent "he believed to be affiliated with a terrorist organization." The agent then provided Ahmed with a document outlining a schedule of future meetings and locations. The spring meeting allegedly launched Ahmed on a series of surveillance operations in which he recorded video, tracked ridership volumes, sketched diagrams and proposed locations to plant explosives at the cemetery, Pentagon City, Courthouse and Crystal City subway stops in Virginia. In a Herndon, Va., hotel room, the court papers say, Ahmed told an undercover agent it would be best to attack the Courthouse and Pentagon City stops between 4 and 5 p.m. "to cause the most casualties." At the same Sept. 28 meeting, Ahmed allegedly suggested to his presumed al-Qaeda handlers that "rolling suitcases instead of backpacks" be used to carry the bombs. He also "wanted to kill as many military personnel as possible." Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn said the FBI's surveillance began before Ahmed began filming Metro stations. He said Metro knew of the investigation as soon as the subway system became a focus. Metro's 20-person anti-terrorism task force relies on riders and employees to report suspicious activity, Taborn said. Yet he said neither employees nor riders reported Ahmed for allegedly photographing stations. Ahmed had worked in Reston, Va., at Ericsson, a telecommunications company. "He's not an Ericsson employee, but he has been doing work for us on a contract basis," Ericsson spokeswoman Kathy Egan said. Egan declined to say what type of work he performed, but his profile on LinkedIn indicates he is a network planning engineer. Neighbor Shaya Fitzgerald, 39, said she was "in complete shock" when she returned from work about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday to find "a mass" of FBI agents. "We would see him coming and going," Fitzgerald said, adding that he lived there with his wife and young son. "He was not very social." But Fitzgerald said Ahmed did nothing to arouse suspicion. INDICTMENT DOCUMENT: Man arrested for plotting attacks on D.C.-area Metro stations Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more