Posted on 06/21/2002 8:51:37 AM PDT by honway
After a routine traffic stop Saturday, Sevier County Sheriff's deputies arrested a man who is suspected of having ties with and transporting money for terrorist networks.
Deputies Bryant Johnson and Todd Gardner pulled a vehicle over about 6 p.m. for a traffic violation. When they spoke to the driver of the car, deputy Johnson noticed a strong perfume or car freshener smell, according to Sevier County Sheriff Phil Barney.
Johnson and Gardner proceeded to question the driver, Hisham Saleh Hammad, 21, who said he didn't have anything illegal in the car and invited officers to search his vehicle. When the officers opened the trunk they smelled the odor of marijuana. At this point Hammad told the officers to stop the search, which they did, according to Barney.
"It's a time consuming thing to get a search warrant, but it's the right thing to do and they did," said Barney.
After a drug sniffing dog, owned by deputy Kelvin Williams, hit on the trunk of the car, a search warrant was obtained and the search continued. Inside the trunk of the car the officers found a bag of marijuana and a suitcase which contained nearly $300,000.
Initially, the subject refused to talk to officers, but then requested to talk to Sheriff Barney.
"I reminded him he had the right to remain silent and he told me he wanted to talk," said Barney. [Yup. :) ] During the interview, Hammad claimed he was from Kuwait and that he didn't know anything about the money except that his brother had asked him to transport it from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Barney contacted personnel at the Joint Terrorism Task Force, who are in Salt Lake City for the Olympics, and they requested the sheriff's office to gather more information. As the search of the car continued, deputies found evidence of three different names. The sheriff's office sent the names and Hammad's fingerprints to Washington, D.C., for analysis.
Hisham Saleh Hammad was found to be from Jordan and his brother, Tereq Hammad, is on the list of suspected terrorists.
Tereq's spouse had been in contact with Chicago police in November. She told Chicago authorities that she hadn't seen her husband for quite some time and felt that he was involved with terrorist activity, according to Barney.
Hisham was transported to Salt Lake City where he was taken into custody by the FBI. "At this time he [Hisham] is cooperating with the FBI," said Barney.
Barney said he feels very strongly the money confiscated by the sheriff's office was intended to be used to finance terrorist activities. "A little inquisitiveness resulted in a tremendous success," said Barney.
From the "I-70 Traffic Stop" link provided by Shermy
According to an FBI complaint filed Wednesday, illegal aliens Mohammed Fares, Mostafa Said Abou-Shahin and Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad drove from New York to obtain licenses.
The complaint said the trio were met outside a testing center Tuesday by Sakhera Hammad and Khaled Odtllah, alleged middlemen who filled out the necessary paperwork, charging them each $1,000. Testing center examiner Katherine Smith then issued the licenses under the names of Fares and two others, the complaint said.
Hammad cried as his father testified Thursday that he came to the United States from Jordan 15 years ago and later brought over other family members, including his son.
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VIENNA, 22 January (UNRWA) -- Peter Hansen, of Denmark, today assumed his post as Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). He succeeds Ilter Turkmen, of Turkey, who retires after five years as the Agency's Commissioner-General.
As Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Mr. Hansen heads the largest United Nations agency in terms of staff. The 22,000 employees of UNRWA, almost entirely Palestinian, provide education, health, relief and social services to more than 3.2 million registered Palestine refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Hansen, 54, comes to UNRWA from the United Nations Secretariat in New York, where he has served as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator since March 1994. He was Executive Director of the Commission on Global Governance, Geneva (1992-1994). He has also served, since 1993, as the Special Representative of the Secretary- General to the Ad hoc Liaison Committee established to follow up the Washington Conference in support of the Middle East peace process. In addition, he has undertaken official missions to UNRWA's area of operations on a number of occasions, at the request of the Secretary-General.
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UNRWA Headquarters (Amman, Jordan) Bayader Wadi Seer, P.O. Box 140157 Amman 11814, Jordan
Hammad cried as his father testified Thursday that he came to the United States from Jordan 15 years ago and later brought over other family members, including his son.
Seems this lawyer was not a terrorist conspirator, but just a guy who bungled a divorce case.
About a decade ago, we had a nutcase blow himself up in a truck parked outside our courthouse--his bomb went off early. The guy survived, but a wee bit mangled.
He had a hitlist--the judge, her lawyer, his lawyer, the guardian ad litem....he's still in prison & will be for quite some time.
Thanks thinden, my kind of mystery.
exactly my thinking. why would a principal owner of a prominent law firm take on a case like this?
add to the puzzle the fact that memphis has a large respected well established jewish community, so why would this lawyer take on a ME client in a high profile case?
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