authorities were tracking mr. ferdaus for the better part of this year. at least since january of 2011. they do indicate that he began some of his various plotting last year but they have tracked him at least since january. they have used undercover agents and at least one cooperating witness who started taping conversations with him earlier this year. so this was a fairly elaborate sting operation that lasted until today when they actually sold him what he thought was some explosive material. they said not a lot of it was the real thing because they were obviously trying to trick him, but it lasted until today when they actually took him down. did he ever have any connection to real people at al qaeda? they say the federal authorities say that he did not. there is no indication according to a law enforcement official that cnn spoke with today, no indication that he has any kind of connection with a foreign terrorist organization. he dealt with undercover fbi agents who