Guerrillas In Our Midst: Fleet, FBI Probe Couple [FBI Says No 'Sleeper Cells in MA]

The Boston Herald ^ | April 9, 2004 | J.M. Lawrence

[johnny7]

Fleet Bank reports obtained by the FBI show an MIT biology graduate and her husband bought high-tech military equipment and may have been plotting terror attacks from their Mission Hill apartment, according to a published report.

Aafia Siddiqui, a 34-year-old Pakistani national and mother of three, has fled Boston and is wanted for questioning by the FBI, Newsweek magazine reports. ``It's an ongoing investigation and we are still trying to locate her,'' said Boston FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz yesterday, adding agents believe she has returned to Pakistan. The FBI rejected Newsweek's description of Siddiqui, her family and Saudi Arabians living in the 75 Alphonsus St. high-rise apartment building as a possible al-Qaeda ``sleeper cell'' that may have been plotting follow-up attacks to 9/11. ``We don't believe there are cells operating in Massachusetts,'' Marcinkiewicz said, adding agents had thoroughly reviewed Siddiqui's activities.

Newsweek obtained ``suspicious-activity reports'' filed by Fleet Bank with the U.S. Treasury Department showing Siddiqui and her now estranged husband, Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan, made repeated purchases from stores selling military equipment. They ordered from Black Hawk Industries in Chesapeake, Va., and Brigade Quartermasters in Georgia - companies whose inventories include parts for AK-47s and specialized combat equipment, including vests designed for bomb disposal. Khan, a Harvard-trained anesthesiologist, bought body armor, night-vision goggles and military manuals. Fleet tipped off the government to the couple in October 2001. Federal law prohibits bank officials from discussing such reports publicly.

In the report, Fleet also noted the couple's ``major purchases'' from airlines and hotels and an $8,000 international wire transfer on Dec. 21, 2001, to a major financial institution in Pakistan under U.S. watch as a source of terrorist transactions, the magazine reported. Two years later, after the capture of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, he fingered Siddiqui as an al-Qaeda ``fixer'' who was supposed to help operatives as they entered the United States, according to internal FBI documents cited by Newsweek. Fleet also spotted suspicious money transfers totaling $20,000 from the Saudi government's armed forces account to a man who lived in the same Boston apartment as Siddiqui. His name is Abdullah Al Reshood and he has been questioned by the FBI, according to a source. Reshood wrote a $20,000 check to another Saudi, Hatem Al Dhahri, who then wired $17,193 back to an account in Saudi Arabia controlled by Reshood. Al Dhahri lived at the same address as Siddiqui, Fleet noted in its report.

The Newsweek report also highlighted the role of Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., in the transactions from Saudi Arabia. Riggs never filed any suspicious activity reports with the U.S. Treasury, prompting an investigation. The Riggs accounts, according to Newsweek, showed a number of checks sent to flight schools and flight school students in the United States. Riggs also paid out $19,200 from the Saudi embassy to Gulshair al-Shukrijumah, an imam who lives in Florida and once served as an interpreter for ``blind Sheik'' Omar Abdul Rahman, convicted in 1996 of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks. A Saudi Embassy spokesman told Newsweek that the Saudis have cooperated with U.S. officials in their investigation. Senior U.S. law enforcement officials told Newsweek the investigation into the Saudi embassy's accounts is still active.

Money trail
Large amounts of money flowed back and forth between Mideast financial institutions and U.S. banks - including Fleet Bank - involving MIT graduate Aafia Siddiqui, her estranged husband Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan, and others, according to a recently published report in Newsweek. July 10, 2001: Fleet investigators found that $50,000 wired from the Saudi Armed Forces Account at the Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., was sent to an unnamed student at Clark University in Worcester. The same day $20,000 from the same account was sent to a Saudi national named Abdullah Al Reshood in Boston. Neither man could be located, said Newsweek. Immediately after receiving the $20,000, Al Reshood wrote a $20,000 check to another Saudi, Hatem Al Dhahri, who five days later wired $17,193 to an account controlled by Al Reshood at the Al Rahji Bank in Saudi Arabia. Dec. 21, 2001: $8,000 wired by Khan and Siddiqui from a Fleet Bank account to Habib Bank Ltd. in Pakistan, a financial institution that has been scrutinized by U.S. intelligence officials in connection with terrorist money transfers. Between July 9, 2001, and Aug. 28, 2001: 50 separate $1,000 American Express travelers checks were sent to Saudi employees from the Riggs Bank; seven of the checks were deposited at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Riggs also reported $19,200 in payments from the Saudi Embassy to Gulshair al-Shukrijumah, a Florida-based imam connected to Omar Abdul Rahman, convicted of a 1996 plot to blow up New York City landmarks. Gulshair al-Shukrijumah's son, Adnan al-Shukrijumah, is a suspected al-Qaeda operative being sought by the FBI, said Newsweek.

[johnny7]

I have total confidence in the Boston Bureau... really.

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[livius]

That's a pretty blood-curdling article. These folks were not bit-players.

Gulshair al-Shukrijumah, an imam who lives in Florida and once served as an interpreter for ``blind Sheik'' Omar Abdul Rahman

BTW, anybody know more about him? What part of Florida, for example?

[BayouCoyote]

Another article that shows SA's blood saoked hands. They have to be held accountable for the terrorist that they support. God, this makes me so angry.

[sgtbono2002]

Oh Please , let drop pretense and start profiling these folks. We cant afford not to look at any Middle Eastern person living in this country. During the second world war we rounded up Japanese and placed them in internment camps it was a wrongful act , the Japanese had committed no wrongful act and most were patriotic citizens of this country who believed in what Americans believed in ,they had become Americans. I dont feel Middle Easterners here have not adapted to our country they still carry their base belief in their own and preach against this country in their Mosques, they are sending money and support to terrorists. I am not advocating rouinding them up , but they sure do need to be watched.

[the crow]

bump for later. thanks for the post.

[petitfour]

Thanks for posting this. So, the "fixer" was a woman????? How gallant of Al Qaeda.

[twigs]

I think it entirely possible that the FBI does not yet want to tip its hand. They are investigating and may want to catch other operatives in their net. This Newsweek report could hurt their efforts. I don't know what is going on, but I'll reserve judgment until I do.

[jonatron]

Of course there's no terrorists in Boston...
Only Freedom Fighters, liberals, socialists, mobsters, communists, drunks, liberators, insurgants, militants, anarchists, hippies.
Anyone remember where the 9/11 planes came from?

Paging Mr Heinz ....

[Little Bill]

Electric, Seamole, and you I believe were at a FReep at the Israeli conciliate, against ANSWER, and half of the cab drivers in Boston honked by if I remember correctly, for the Pali's.