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View Full Version : Alleged Al-Qaieda funding cell in Henderson, NC (WND)




GunnyFreedom
12-16-2010, 08:17 PM
This would be 20 minutes from my home. I don't normally buy in to this stuff, but this one has the smell of veracity. The peripheral facts would seem to add up, which on the BS stories they usually do not. Most everything the government says is malarkey, but I suspect this WND article may actually be true.

It appears to be a funding cell rather than an operative cell (only 16 federal weapons charges?) but I will pick up my Situational Awareness a couple notches. If (and that's a pretty big if) there is an op-cell in the region, their likely target is in Raleigh, and my new place of employment would probably be on the short list.

Best thing is to go back to carrying and just stay alert. :(

I hope it turns out to be as BS as .gov stories usually are, but since it seems to have the ring of truth to it when you account for all the peripheral stuff (money laundering, cash volume, funding destination and source [Michigan?], 16 Federal weapons charges as opposed to the 'ordinary' 2 or 3...) unlike most .gov stories this one looks like it could actually be true, so I will be raising my SA level a few notches.

Gee, thanks BushClintonBushObama, for creating this lovely world for us. :mad: Thanks a whole frelling bunch for setting out the policies that make us a target. :mad:

I know every store they refer to in this article, and I have been inside of most of them. This had better not be some trumped up feel-good shyt to make it look like FBI-DHS is doing their jobs, pulled over on the rest of us at the expense of some poor innocent businessmen.

That said, IF the facts cited in this article are actually true (again, a big if), then I would tend to agree with the conclusions.


http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=239977

WND Exclusive HOMELAND INSECURITY
Feds bust suspected Yemeni terror ring in N.C.
Convenience stores, mosque raided in alleged al-Qaida finance scheme
Posted: December 15, 2010
11:06 am Eastern

© 2010 WorldNetDaily


Federal agents have raided several convenience stores and a mosque in tiny Henderson, N.C., while arresting at least two Muslim men in connection with the raid.

Authorities suspect the stores were operating a so-called hawala money-transfer network supporting terrorist activities in Yemen, including al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, WND has learned. AQAP's leaders include fugitive al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been linked to 10 major terror plots in the past year alone.

Mohamed Mohamed Nagi, 33, and Abdullah Ahmed Almuwallad, 32, have been charged with food stamp fraud. Additionally, Almuwallad has been charged with transporting stolen cigarettes and possession of the illegal stimulant cathinone, more commonly known a khat. Khat is popular in many countries of the Arabian peninsula and the Horn of Africa, but in Yemen it's a full-blown national addiction.

FBI agents have had both men under surveillance for several months. Federal, state and local law enforcement agents on Thursday searched four stores in Henderson, located about 40 miles north of Raleigh, N.C., including the stores where Nagi and Almuwallad worked. Agents converged on the targets using a helicopter and unmarked cars.

At least two of the stores – Dabney Pit Stop and Brothers Food Mart – are owned by Abdo Ali Saleh, 39, a Yemeni national who immigrated to the U.S in 1997 on a student visa, federal authorities told WND.

Saleh also operates a mosque and madrassa behind another store he owns, Henderson Furniture Outlet Inc., which also has been under surveillance.

Authorities described the small mosque, which serves about three dozen Muslims, as a "place of interest" and Saleh as a "person of interest" in the investigation. Saleh has not been charged with a crime, but sources say charges may be pending.

State records show Saleh, who could not be reached for comment, also owns the Greystone Variety Mart and Raleigh Road Best Bet in Henderson.

Authorities say Saleh has at least two relatives in the area – Mohamed Saleh and Najeeb Saleh. He also is related to Saleh Saleh in Dearborn, Mich.

Federal records show Saleh has worked as a U.S. flag vessel operator.

Investigators suspect proceeds from cigarette smuggling and food stamp irregularities have been laundered through the Henderson stores to terror front groups in Yemen.

Well-organized Islamic and other cigarette smuggling networks generate between $200,000 and $300,000 per week in New York alone, found a 2008 House Homeland Security Committee staff report.

In May, Hazam Ali Ahmed of Knoxville, Tenn., pleaded guilty to 16 federal firearms, conspiracy, cigarette smuggling and money laundering charges. He bought 20,000 cartons of cigarettes from low-tax Tennessee and resold them in high-tax Michigan. Ahmed in turn sent the profits to the Middle East. An FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force wiretap caught Ahmed recruiting for al-Qaida and talking about blowing up a shopping mall.

Back in January 2003, Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., took heat for remarks she had earlier made to the conservative Heritage Foundation about domestic security threats. In a question-and-answer session, she said: "Look at who runs all the convenience stores across the country. Every little town you go into, you know?"

Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, was criticized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations for singling out Arabs and Muslims.

But Myrick says she was referring, among other things, to a June 2002 case involving Mohamad Hammoud of Charlotte, N.C., who was convicted on federal charges of materially supporting terrorism. He and nine other Muslim men were convicted on related charges. The conspirators bought cigarettes in North Carolina, which then had a 5-cent-per-pack tax, applied bogus tax stamps, and then sold them in 75-cent-tax Michigan.

The Lebanese gang funneled millions in profits from the illegal smuggling operation to Hezbollah, along with stun guns, night-vision goggles, blasting equipment and other gear they bought for the terrorist group.

The Somali community also has been the subject of federal investigations into terrorist money-laundering involving food stamps.

Federal agents suspect Somali refugees have funneled millions of dollars from food-stamp fraud and drug sales through Somali grocery stores into overseas bank accounts used by al-Qaida.

CAIR has defended the Somali store owners against the allegations, even meeting with the head of the civil-rights unit of the USDA to complain about the agency's food-stamp investigations, which it argues are "causing enormous harm to the owners and the Somali community," reveals a confidential CAIR memo published in the book, "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America."

oyarde
12-16-2010, 08:28 PM
Food stamp fraud , wth ?

oyarde
12-16-2010, 09:40 PM
How many packs of cigarettes a week are they turning in New York to turn 200,000 to 300,000 thousand a week in 08 ?

Cowlesy
12-16-2010, 10:02 PM
Unreal.

:mad:

Stay safe Gunny.


/Goes to read some more Pat Buchanan arguments.

GunnyFreedom
12-16-2010, 10:03 PM
How many packs of cigarettes a week are they turning in New York to turn 200,000 to 300,000 thousand a week in 08 ?

I dunno, but that's a hell of a lot of coffin nails. I wonder how many groups are responsible for that collective sum.

This particular guy, of course, only turned over 20,000 cartons, and that in Michigan instead of New York. Stating here for the sake of clarity, the $200,000 to $300,000 figure was a composite example from other similar activity, ie the sum of all "Islamic cigarette tax fraud" in New York City. The guy in this article sold in Michigan, not NY. It doesn't exactly say how much profit he turned over cigarette sales in Michigan, just the unit volume of 20,000 cartons. How much profit THIS GUY made (rather than 'people like him') is one of the things missing from this article that bothers me...

ammorris
12-16-2010, 11:41 PM
It seems to me that none of these terrorist-funding activities would be possible were it not for government food-stamp programs and cigarette taxes. If the government wishes to cut of the source of funding for terrorist groups, perhaps they should start there.

devil21
12-17-2010, 05:48 AM
First thing that caught my attention:



AQAP's leaders include fugitive al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been linked to 10 major terror plots in the past year alone.

Seems he's friendly with our own military and likely CIA too.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/21/national/main6978200.shtml



Anwar al-Awlaki - the radical spiritual leader linked to several 9/11 attackers, the Fort Hood shooting, and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airliner - was a guest at the Pentagon in the months after 9/11, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News.

Awlaki was invited as "...part of an informal outreach program" in which officials sought contact "...with leading members of the Muslim community," the official said. At that time, Awlaki was widely viewed as a "moderate" imam at a mosque in Northern Virginia.

At the same time, the FBI was also interviewing Awlaki about his contacts with three of the 9/11 attackers - Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al Midhar and Hani Hanjour - who were all part of the crew of five that hijacked the American Airlines jet that hit the Pentagon.

So yeah, way to portray everyone as linking back to the same AQ guy that gets to eat dinner at the Pentagon after they supposedly blew up the WTC and that same Pentagon. Sorry I don't buy the guilt by association there and I see nothing other than "suspect" they are funding terrorism. The whole story looks to me like some muslims got caught smuggling smokes and ripping off the welfare system and were then reported as supporting terrorism just to keep the scare factor going. Don't jump to any conclusions Glen.

Watch and see if there are any terrorism charges whatsoever for these men. The article itself even states that some other muslim was busted and only charged with smuggling and tax fraud nonsense.



In May, Hazam Ali Ahmed of Knoxville, Tenn., pleaded guilty to 16 federal firearms, conspiracy, cigarette smuggling and money laundering charges. He bought 20,000 cartons of cigarettes from low-tax Tennessee and resold them in high-tax Michigan. Ahmed in turn sent the profits to the Middle East. An FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force wiretap caught Ahmed recruiting for al-Qaida and talking about blowing up a shopping mall.

And yet he was not charged with or convicted of any terrorism charges? Smells like bullshit, just like most of these "terrorist plots" that the FBI breaks up on US soil lately.

Travlyr
12-17-2010, 06:09 AM
This would be 20 minutes from my home. I don't normally buy in to this stuff, but this one has the smell of veracity. The peripheral facts would seem to add up, which on the BS stories they usually do not. Most everything the government says is malarkey, but I suspect this WND article may actually be true.

It appears to be a funding cell rather than an operative cell (only 16 federal weapons charges?) but I will pick up my Situational Awareness a couple notches. If (and that's a pretty big if) there is an op-cell in the region, their likely target is in Raleigh, and my new place of employment would probably be on the short list.

Best thing is to go back to carrying and just stay alert. :(

I hope it turns out to be as BS as .gov stories usually are, but since it seems to have the ring of truth to it when you account for all the peripheral stuff (money laundering, cash volume, funding destination and source [Michigan?], 16 Federal weapons charges as opposed to the 'ordinary' 2 or 3...) unlike most .gov stories this one looks like it could actually be true, so I will be raising my SA level a few notches.

Gee, thanks BushClintonBushObama, for creating this lovely world for us. :mad: Thanks a whole frelling bunch for setting out the policies that make us a target. :mad:

I know every store they refer to in this article, and I have been inside of most of them. This had better not be some trumped up feel-good shyt to make it look like FBI-DHS is doing their jobs, pulled over on the rest of us at the expense of some poor innocent businessmen.

That said, IF the facts cited in this article are actually true (again, a big if), then I would tend to agree with the conclusions.

This is some pretty scary stuff.
Gunny, do you know the sheriff of Vance County? When you get some free time it might be worth paying him/her a visit.

oyarde
12-17-2010, 07:40 PM
I dunno, but that's a hell of a lot of coffin nails. I wonder how many groups are responsible for that collective sum.

This particular guy, of course, only turned over 20,000 cartons, and that in Michigan instead of New York. Stating here for the sake of clarity, the $200,000 to $300,000 figure was a composite example from other similar activity, ie the sum of all "Islamic cigarette tax fraud" in New York City. The guy in this article sold in Michigan, not NY. It doesn't exactly say how much profit he turned over cigarette sales in Michigan, just the unit volume of 20,000 cartons. How much profit THIS GUY made (rather than 'people like him') is one of the things missing from this article that bothers me...

Yeah , because if you have ten packs to a carton , you buy in one state , sell in another and make .75 a pack more , on 20,000 cartons , that is 150,000 I think at 7.50 per carton . That is a huge operation , how would it go under the radar ? Where I live you would be lucky to make it through town if you have had three beers .

oyarde
12-17-2010, 07:42 PM
It seems to me that none of these terrorist-funding activities would be possible were it not for government food-stamp programs and cigarette taxes. If the government wishes to cut of the source of funding for terrorist groups, perhaps they should start there.

I definately vote for that .

oyarde
12-20-2010, 03:27 PM
Yeah , because if you have ten packs to a carton , you buy in one state , sell in another and make .75 a pack more , on 20,000 cartons , that is 150,000 I think at 7.50 per carton . That is a huge operation , how would it go under the radar ? Where I live you would be lucky to make it through town if you have had three beers .

That much money , can only be a couple of things I can think of . Someone has legit business they run it through and pay taxes on it , or it goes through a Mosque .