The police have arrested three suspected terrorists in Chicago and claimed to have foiled a major terror bid ahead of a NATO summit to be held in the city. The prosecutors said on Saturday that the accused were charged of making Molotov cocktails and planning terror attacks at President Barack Obama’s election campaign headquarters and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home. These suspects were arrested on Wednesday when the police raided a house situated on the city’s South Side. The police and other law enforcement agencies must be appreciated for the good job they have done by arresting the suspected terrorists.

However, the whole story went sore when defense attorneys alleged the cases against their clients were concocted and baseless. While making arguments before the court, they said the police personnel carried out an undercover operation and made Molotov cocktails. Michael Duetsch, one of the defense attorneys, termed the case against his client just propaganda and vowed to fight it to the end. He said it was job of the undercover police officers and an environment of fear and panic was being created in the city ahead of the NATO summit.

The NATO summit is scheduled to be held in the city on May 20-21 and is aimed at devising a cogent and viable policy regarding end game in Afghanistan. Hundreds of people including human rights activists and workers of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) are expected to gather outside the summit hall and protest against the world powers to press them for an end to the prolonged war in Afghanistan. Defense lawyers of the suspected terrorists alleged the government of plotting the drama to scare the people and prevent them from gathering outside the summit hall. However, claim of the defense attorneys is yet to be proved in the court of law.

The terror suspects are identified as Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H.; and Brent Vincent Betterly, 24 while the prosecutors have yet to present a detailed charge sheet against them in the court of law. Many independent analysts here in the United States also believe the arrest of suspected trio is staged and nothing to do with the reality. They say the government just wants to disseminate its message of tight security being organised for the event and also bar the people from gathering outside the hall to protest against the world powers.

What is the reality? Nobody knows at the moment whether the arrests are staged or real. However, one thing is for sure that officials of the United States remain at toes to ensure fool proof security not only for the summit but also for the whole country. At the moment, we also don’t know whether security at Obama’s election campaign headquarters and the mayor’s house is beefed up or not.