A judge in Venice indicted an Iraqi on Tuesday who is suspected of plotting a terrorist attack on U.S. bases in Iraq using ultra-light aircraft.

Saber Fadhil Hussien was ordered to face a fast-track trial starting Nov. 18 on international terrorism charges, said his lawyer, Giorgio Pietramala.

Investigators believe Hussien, a former member of ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, had been in touch with aides of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in 2006.

Thanks to wiretapped conversations, police discovered Hussien and his contacts were allegedly planning an attack against U.S. bases in Iraq using suicide bombers, anti-tank weapons and ultra-light helicopters that the group planned to buy from an Italian company.

Hussien had been living in Italy for 25 years, operating kiosks that sold kebabs. Police said at the time of his arrest that he also provided financial support to his terror cell, sending several thousand euros (dollars) to Iraq each month.

Hussien, who was arrested in Padua last year and has since been placed on house arrest, denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said.

The maximum sentence for international terrorism, a charge introduce in Italy after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, is 15 years in jail. If Hussien were convicted the sentence would be slashed by a third because he agreed to a fast-track trial, Pietramala said.