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| Funds for Hizbollah sent by illegal immigrant here via Mexico | ||
| 2004-01-16 | ||
| hat tip: LGF Iâm still evaluating Bushâs proposal re: immigration, but this doesnât help. Federal agents found thousands of dollars and evidence of wire transfers when they searched the house of an illegal immigrant charged with providing material support to terrorists. Mahmoud Kourani was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization: Hezbollah. The U.S. government considers Hezbollah, a Lebanese group known as Party of God or Islamic Jihad, to be a terrorist organization. The groupâs goals, the government says, include the eradication of âWestern imperialismâ from the Middle East. Hezbollah has conducted numerous high profile terrorist attacks, including the murder of a Marine Corps lieutenant in 1989. The U.S. Attorneyâs Office said Kourani bribed a Mexican consular official in Beirut to get a visa to travel to Mexico. Kourani and a traveling companion then paid another man in Mexico to be smuggled across the southern U.S. border on Feb. 4, 2001, the government said. Kourani, 32, was âa member, fighter, recruiter and fund-raiser for Hezbollah,â the government said. His brother, an unindicted co-conspirator, is Hezbollahâs chief of military security in southern Lebanon and oversaw Kouraniâs activities. His attorney, Nabih Ayad, said Kourani is not a terrorist and has no connection to Hezbollah.
Not ready to let him go back & join the fight again Among other things, FBI agents were searching for âbooks, pamphlets and magazines dealing with Hezbollah, martyrdom, suicide operations, bombings or other terrorist attacks.â Court records say little about what the agents found, though they did find two $5,000 checks in a suit coat pocket in a bedroom closet and $3,000 in cash. Kourani took steps to conceal his beliefs â not attending mosque or observing religious rituals and shaving his beard â while he was in the United States. During his time here, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins said, Kourani raised âa substantial sumâ of money for Hezbollah, as well as offering other, unspecified support. U.S. Magistrate Virginia Morgan ordered Kourani detained until a hearing Tuesday. Kourani pleaded not guilty. âThe message we send today is clear: Anyone who provides money to Hezbollah or any other terrorist organization will face the full wrath of a vigorous federal prosecution,â Collins said. Kourani received training in weaponry, spy craft and counterintelligence in Lebanon and Iran, the government said. Kourani, whose wife and three children remain in Lebanon, faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is the fifth person in Michigan charged with providing material support to terrorists. Two were convicted; one was was convicted of a lesser charge; and a fourth was acquitted. | ||
| Posted by:rkb |
| #3 i agreee with crazy foot |
| Posted by: smokeysinse 2004-1-16 4:59:04 PM |
| #2 I wonder how many of these other 'sleepers' there are out there collecting and forwarding funds to the terrorists and waiting for their own chance at 72 raisins,,,, How many thousands have to die before people get it in their heads that we need to seal the border. And send the illegal aliens packing. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-1-16 3:45:14 PM |
| #1 a member, fighter, recruiter and fund-raiser for Hezbollah, Dang! Raise the alert-level they've learned to multi-task. He is also a skill janitor/taxi-driver. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-16 3:35:08 PM |