WASHINGTON - An Egyptian who worked as a driver for Saudi Arabia's embassy faces charges of illegally smuggling other Egyptians into the United States by selling them fraudulent Saudi work visas. Mohamed Abdel Wahab Yakoub, who was fired from the Saudi Embassy in 2002, appeared Wednesday in federal court. He is accused of charging up to $5,000 for visas created with official embassy letterheads and government stamps.
"Anytime you have an individual exploiting his post at an embassy to smuggle people into this country, it raises serious homeland security concerns," said Allan Doody, special agent in charge at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. "Thankfully, we have closed down this human pipeline."
| Wonder how much damage he did. |
A Saudi Embassy spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
"Mahmoud! Go hire another peasant Egyptian!" |
Authorities believe Yakoub, 61, sold the fake visas to at least four Egyptians; others still are under investigation. None of the Egyptians who used the visas appear to have any ties to international terror organizations, officials said.
From the late 1990s until he was fired, Yakoub wrote letters on the embassy's letterhead stationery requesting visas for Egyptians to work for Saudi diplomats in the United States, investigators alleged. The letters were sent to the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, where the visas were approved. None of the Egyptians ever worked for the embassy or any Saudi diplomat after entering the country, officials said.
Yakoub, who lives in Maryland, was arrested last month at Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia after flying in from Cairo and was charged with smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States. He appeared in federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia and was released Wednesday in care of his family to attend to what officials called a serious medical condition.
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