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| Home Front: WoT |
| LA robbery arrests prompt terrorism investigation |
| 2005-08-29 |
| California police say arrests in a series of Los Angeles-area gas-station robberies prompted a federal terrorism investigation that reached into a local mosque and state prisons. Police in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance arrested Gregory Patterson, 21, and Levar Washington, 25, for robbery on July 5. Officers then uncovered information that caused them to call in the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, said Torrance police Lieutenant Roy Irvine. He wouldn't comment further. The investigation, which led to the arrest of Inglewood resident Hamad Riaz Samana, may expand, said Los Angeles Police Department Commander Mark Leap, who leads the anti-terror squad. The case now occupies more than 100 investigators and may represent the most direct terrorism threat to the city since 1999, when the arrest of Ahmed Ressam averted an attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport. ``Los Angeles must be in the top five terror targets in the U.S.,'' said Michael Scheuer, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst and author of ``Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror'' and other books on terrorism. ``If the target is worthwhile, they'll certainly go back at it.'' After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon, Los Angeles bolstered its anti-terrorism unit almost fourfold to 163 officers, said Leap, who reports to Chief William Bratton. Los Angeles police increased terrorism surveillance as attacks in Western countries continued, most recently in London. Leap and other police officials refused to be specific about any potential terrorism threats they may have uncovered. FBI Special Agent Cathy Viray, a spokeswoman for the Joint Terrorism Task Force, declined to comment. Washington's Torrance-based attorney, Los Angeles County Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jerome Haig, also declined to comment. ``There is a presumption of innocence in this country and that's what I'm operating under,'' said Patterson's Beverly Hills, California-based attorney, Winston McKesson. The probe has led investigators to the California prison system, where Washington served time before his current arrest, Leap said. It also reached into the Jamat-E-Masijidul mosque in the Los Angles suburb of Inglewood, Junaid Kharsany, one of the congregation's two imams, or leaders, said in an interview. Federal agents visited the mosque the night of Washington and Patterson's arrests, said Kharsany, who began working for the mosque in 2004. Kharsany in the past has visited U.S. Homeland Security Offices to foster closer relations and has assisted authorities in other cases, he said. ``This is part of being an imam in the U.S.,'' said Kharsany, 30. ``This is part of being under scrutiny.'' Patterson accepted Islam and began attending the mosque 14 months ago, Kharsany said. Washington joined the congregation about eight months ago and the two began associating, the imam said. Samana, whose family lives within three blocks of the mosque, has worshipped there at least three years, Kharsany said. Samana is being held in connection with the investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Leap said, declining to say whether the probe would produce more arrests. ``The investigation is not over,'' he said. Los Angeles lawyer Timothy Lannen represents Samana, Kharsany said. Lannen didn't return two calls seeking comment. Washington and Patterson each face 10 counts of second- degree robbery in connection with the gas-station holdups, according to an amended felony complaint filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court. The men are also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit a felony. Prosecutors charged Washington with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The case has prompted Los Angeles's anti-terrorism squad to put more focus on California's prisons, Leap said. ``Whether they be gangs, alleged Islamic groups, or anything else, we do aggressively investigate any type of disruptive behavior we see in our institutions,'' said state prisons spokesman J.P. Tremblay, declining to comment further. Washington and Patterson gave no indications at the mosque that they might be plotting terrorism, Kharsany said. Patterson's questions dealt with Muslim dietary and hygienic rules, he said. Washington once asked Kharsany for the definition of jihad, the term terrorist groups including al- Qaeda apply to their activities. Kharsany told Washington that he thinks of jihad in terms of the personal struggle to live according to his faith. ``He never asked again,'' Kharsany said of Washington. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Thanks, Shieldwolf. Your imagination is clearly more effective than mine. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-08-29 19:34 |
| #3 LA is a target because we are all infidels, and a strike at the Left Coast's media Mecca would guarantee headlines for months. The terrs don't make the kind of splintering differentiations that we do as normal people; e.g, if you are not one of their "approved Muslims", you deserve death. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2005-08-29 16:31 |
| #2 It's good to see the police are devoting the manpower to unravel all the threads. I'm especially pleased that they are ignoring Political Correctness to follow the trail into the prisons -- a problem we've been aware of for years. And the FBI, despite its faults, is good at tracing connections. Although why Los Angeles should be a target is beyond my ability to imagine. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-08-29 15:19 |
| #1 This was covered extensively at RB when the arrests were made. |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-08-29 13:47 |