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Story of FBI Informant Who Set Himself On Fire in Front of White House
From The Washington PostMohamed Alanssi slid the photos of his once-happy life across the table of a Union Station restaurant. The portrait of his wife with two of his six children. The picture showing the living room of the $1 million home he built in his native Yemen when he was a prosperous businessman. The 1970s snapshot of him as a low-level employee at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, shaking hands with the U.S. ambassador. But that happiness ended after he made the mistake of becoming an FBI terrorism informant, Alanssi said tearfully in an interview three weeks ago. His cooperation had been leaked, and his family in Yemen was angry with him. Some of them called him a traitor. His wife was dying of cancer, he was penniless, and the U.S. residency papers the FBI had promised him had not materialized, he said. .... He said that at the time of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, he was in New York on a visitor's visa exploring business opportunities. He said he decided to approach the FBI because he was upset by the terrorist attacks on Americans, whom he likes. He also saw an opportunity to realize his dream of living and working in the United States. .... FBI agent Robert Fuller -- to whom Alanssi faxed his suicide note Monday -- wrote in a January 2003 affidavit that he began working in November 2001 with an unnamed confidential informant who was a Yemeni citizen. The informant "provided information that has proven to be reliable and contributed, in part, to the arrests of 20 individuals and the seizure of over $1 million," Fuller wrote. In that and a second affidavit, Fuller outlines Alanssi's role in the FBI sting operation in Frankfurt, Germany, that led to Moayad's arrest, as well as the efforts Alanssi made for more than a year to ingratiate himself with Moayad. Alanssi persuaded the cleric to travel to Germany to meet an FBI undercover agent posing as a wealthy American seeking to donate $2 million to terrorist activities. .... Although the FBI told Alanssi he could bring members of his family to the United States and sent them about $16,000 to buy plane tickets, they have refused to join him, he said. They are angry with him for subjecting them to public disfavor, Alanssi said. His family also is reluctant to come here, he added, because he has not been given permanent U.S. residency, as promised. According to Alanssi, the FBI also promised him a new identity and "a very big amount [of money] which will make me retired." None of those promises was written down, he said. .... Finally, he said, the FBI deposited $100,000 in his bank account and asked him to sign a receipt for the money. .... Alanssi, however, said he did not regard the $100,000 as a final payment. "I am not crazy to destroy my life for these tips," he said. On Nov. 9, he faxed a seven-page, handwritten note marked "Top Urgent" to FBI agent Fuller, demanding $5 million and threatening to sue the bureau for $20 million if he did not get it. ..... Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-11-21 |
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