Former fugitive in Malta charged with selling bomb to terrorists

A man who spent a year imprisoned in Malta was charged yesterday with trying to build a bomb and sell it to an affiliate of al-Qaida. Ronald A. Grecula, 68, was arrested on Friday in Houston during a meeting with undercover FBI agents. Grecula was angry at the government over losing custody of his children, with whom he fled to Malta. He met a confidential source in prison in Malta while awaiting extradition to the United States for the alleged kidnapping of the children, then 10 and 3. Grecula has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. From the Houston Chronicle:

A man who compared himself to Spartacus and claimed the U.S. government had tortured him and stolen his children appeared in a Houston federal court Monday, accused of trying to sell a bomb that "approaches nuclear ... capability" to an undercover agent posing as a terrorist.
Ronald Allen Grecula, 68, believed he was talking with someone from a terrorist group when he claimed he could build a bomb that would destroy everything within more than a half-mile, federal authorities said.

He actually was talking with a Houston police officer, working as an undercover agent with the federal anti-terrorism task force, they said. A criminal complaint accuses Grecula, of Bangor, Pa., of offering to build the bomb to be used against U.S. citizens for a group he believed was affiliated with al-Qaida..

While in prison in Malta, Grecula met a man who later acted as a confidential source in the investigation, authorities said. They did not say how they came into contact with the man.
Baldwin said in the affidavit that Grecula had asked the source for help finding a terrorist group that wanted to purchase a bomb, saying he would fly anywhere in the world to build a prototype to demonstrate his capabilities.

He also asked the source to help him hire someone to kill his wife, who now lives in The Woodlands, the affidavit states. Grecula suggested that the killing be done in a "mysterious way," to avoid the appearance of murder, the document says...