Posted on 10/19/2013 3:39:48 AM PDT by Cindy
Two men being held in jail while awaiting trial for cigarette trafficking are accused of plotting to kill witnesses against them. In an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn Supreme Court Thursday,
Basel Ramadan and Yousseff Odeh are charged with conspiracy to murder witnesses and with soliciting a potential hit man.
The murder-for-hire plot was hatched from New York City's Rikers Island jail where the two have been held since their May arrest on the initial cigarette-trafficking and money laundering charges.
The Staten Island Advance reports that Odeh was a supporter of blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the spiritual guide for the 1993 World Trade Center bombers who is serving a life sentence at the Supermax penitentiary in Colorado for his role in a subsequent conspiracy to bomb several New York landmarks.
Odeh also reportedly had close ties to Abdel Sattar, a key associate of the blind sheik. Sattar was convicted in 2005 for aiding Rahman in his efforts to direct terrorist activities from his cell in the United States.
Odeh and Ramadan were charged with 14 others last spring for their alleged involvement in a cigarette trafficking ring that laundered more than $55 million in illegal proceeds and evaded more than $80 million in New York taxes. Similar schemes in the past have helped fund terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hizballah.
(Excerpt) Read more at investigativeproject.org ...
Who saw that coming?
Previously...
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3020509/posts
NY busts multi-million dollar ‘cigarette smuggling ring’ (3 of 16 Palestinians have terrorist links)
BBC News ^ | 5/16/13 | BBC
Posted on May 16, 2013 8:17:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
New York officials say they have busted a multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring.
Officials allege that three of the 16 Palestinian immigrants charged had links to known terrorists.
The state’s attorney general said investigators had recovered only “a fraction” of the proceeds from sales of more than a million untaxed cartons.
The amount of money involved remains unclear, but records show the suspects deposited at least $55m (£36m).
The scheme cost the state an estimated $80m in tax revenue, said officials in a press conference on Thursday.
The alleged ringleaders, brothers Basel and Samir Ramadan, were arrested on Wednesday in Maryland.
Investigators said they had found $1.5m in cash - some stashed in black plastic bin bags - in the home and car of Basel Ramadan.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
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