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INDIANAPOLIS -- Federal prosecutors have charged an Algerian man with falsely claiming that he knew about an al-Qaida plot to bomb five U.S. cities in an attempt to avoid deportation.\nAhmed Allali, 36, of Indianapolis, was charged with making false statements to a federal agency following an investigation by the FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Force and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\nAllali claimed that he traveled to the United States with al-Qaida members in 1998 and that there was a terrorist cell in the country that planned to detonate bombs in five major cities in early 2005, federal officials said Thursday.\n"This is an extreme case of crying wolf," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Resident Agent-in-Charge Michelle Mangold.\nAllali was being held in Illinois on an immigration deportation warrant pending a hearing before a federal magistrate in Indianapolis, authorities said. He faces a maximum possible prison sentence of 10 years on each of the three counts filed against him.\n"We encourage and welcome persons with legitimate informa0tion to come forward and indeed, we need the cooperation of all," said Susan Brooks, the U.S. attorney for southern Indiana. "Unfortunately there are those who will bring forth false information that impedes our ability to identify those who may be planning future acts of terrorism"