In Albany New York, the Justice Department announced the arrest of two leaders of a storefront mosque on charges of conspiracy to launder money and concealing material support for terrorism.

The men were caught in a government sting operation where they allegedly agreed to launder money that they were told would pay for a shoulder-fired missile to be used to assassinate Pakistan’s ambassador in New York.

The government does not allege the men ever met anyone with actual terrorist ties — only a government informant acting as a terrorist. The informant is a convicted felon who in return for his role in the sting is to get a reduced prison sentence on document fraud charges.

US Attorney James Comey said the men had no connection to any actual terror plot. He said “the terrorist plot … is one that the government’s agent, the cooperating witness, represented to be underway. It was not real. It was represented.”

Officially the government has not tied the men to any organized terror group, but an unnamed Bush administration claimed one of the men had ties to the Iraqi-based Ansar al Islam. No evidence backing up this claim has been presented.