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3 alleged al-Qaeda members arrive in NY to face drugs charges
Oumar Issa, Harouna Toure and Idriss Abelrahman were captured in Ghana on Wednesday and arrived in the city early this morning. They are expected to appear before a federal judge this afternoon. It's the first time suspected al-Qaeda operatives have been charged in a drug-trafficking plot, prosecutors said. The three admitted their ties to al-Qaeda's north African branch in a series of phone calls and meetings with undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents since September. They told the sources - who posed as members of Columbian terror group FARC - that they transported the drugs by truck from West Africa and across the Sahara desert to be shipped into Spain, and that al Qaeda militias would provide protection along the route. They also offered to arrange kidnappings of foreign nationals as another way for FARC to raise cash, prosecutors said. One of the men, Adelrahman, "discussed with the (agents) their shared goals ... including the fact that they were committed to the same anti-American cause," the criminal complaint states. The group the three are tied to joined Osama bin Laden's terror network in 2006, and has been accused of hundreds of bombings and kidnappings since. At one point, the three told the agents that payment for transporting the drugs would "go to their people to support the fight for 'the cause,'" the complaint said. The three men, thought to be in their 30s and from Mali, are expected to be charged with narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to provide support to terrorists. They face life in prison. Posted by: 2009-12-19 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=285972 |