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| The FBI is seeking Adnan Gulshair El'Shakrijumah worldwide. |
Posted on 03/30/2003 11:11:40 PM PST by miltonim
He is now among the most hunted men in America.
But to his family in South Forida, Adnan Gulshair El'Shukri-jumah is the son who -- at the age of 8 -- took over as head of his home in Saudi Arabia in the absence of his missionary father.
They describe him as a brother who loved to picnic in the desert outside Medina and enjoyed American movies but not America's permissive customs.
Though the subject of a global manhunt for his suspected involvement in possible terrorist activities, family members say he was just a normal, good-natured young man who dreamed of a family of his own, whose young adult years in Miramar were filled with driving children to school, buying groceries and taking college courses.
He sometimes went with his father to lead Islamic worship services and took his Muslim heritage seriously. But by their account, Adnan El'Shukri-jumah never showed any signs of taking up the militant causes of extremists.
GOVERNMENT'S VIEW
U.S. thinks suspect joined
with terrorists before 9/11
Federal authorities have another take.
They suspect he disappeared in the weeks before the attacks that toppled the World Trade Center to cast in his lot with Osama bin Laden.
For more than two years -- even from before the surprise attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 -- federal agents have been trying without success to make a case for terrorism against the elusive and mysterious 27-year-old Miramar man.
They interrogated friends and acquaintances, who offered only vague inferences about his allegedly radical views and his capacity to be recruited.
They've been searching quietly for him since immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, and became acutely suspicious because he has lost all contact with his family.
The federal search for El'Shukri-jumah went worldwide following the March 1 arrest in Pakistan of Khalid Shaik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and a top al Qaeda commander.
Last week, the head of the FBI's Miami office called a news conference to ask for help from the Arab-American community and to say El'Shukri-jumah ``has been identified by senior members of the al Qaeda organization as a very, very, very serious threat.''
Federal authorities acknowledge that there is no indictment, no arrest warrant and no evidence that El'Shukri-jumah has ever been involved in an act of violence other than biting his 13-year-old sister in a family squabble five years ago.
They have not made public any evidence suggesting El'Shukri-jumah is a threat, and they won't say under what conditions Khalid Shaik Mohammed -- now under interrogation at an undisclosed location -- made the identification.
''Has he been deprived of sleep? Food? We have no idea, and they won't tell us, what measures they have taken to elicit this information,'' said Altaf Ali, local director of the Council on Islamic-American Affairs.
``Yet, they are willing to . . . label this man public enemy No. 1.''
FALLOUT FOR FAMILY
There has been scrutiny,
threats and a key job loss
The family insists it's a mistake that has left their lives in chaos. They have been deluged by media attention and threatening e-mails.
FBI agents have visited their home repeatedly.
And most recently, El'Shukri-jumah's father -- 72-year-old Shaik Gulshair El'Shukri-jumah -- was fired from his role as spiritual leader of his neighborhood mosque.
''We love this country. We love it because of its great laws -- its protections that we don't have in Arabia,'' said El'Shukri-jumah's mother, Zuhrah Abdu Ahmed. 'I'm confused about how they can do these things to my family on a `maybe.' ''
''Is it possible he's innocent? Of course it is,'' said one federal law-enforcement source involved in the investigation. ``We have made mistakes before. But from what I know about this case, I have some really serious concerns about this guy. My gut tells me this is real.''
Adnan G. El'Shukri-jumah was born on Aug. 4, 1975, in Medina, Saudi Arabia, to a 16-year-old mother and a 44-year-old Islamic scholar.
When Adnan was young, his father was sent to the Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago by the Saudi government as an Islamic missionary, where the family lived until 1983.
When his father was transferred to New York City to lead a Brooklyn mosque, the family went back to Saudi Arabia.
GROWING UP FAST
An 8-year-old boy assumes
leadership position in home
Adnan, then 8, became the recognized head of the household in his father's absence -- the eldest male.
''He had so much responsibility so young,'' his mother said. ``He was always asking everyone what they needed. He was always doing things for everyone else. I could not have lived without him.''
In 1995, after Adnan had graduated from high school in Saudi Arabia, his father retired from his missionary job as Imam in Brooklyn and decided to move his family to Florida.
''I remember meeting them at [John F. Kennedy International Airport] in New York,'' said his father, Gulshair El'Shukri-jumah. 'He smiled and the first thing he said to me was, `Here is your family back; I don't want them anymore.' ''
The family moved to Miramar in 1996 and bought a modest retirement home. In 1996 and 1997, Adnan studied computer engineering at Broward Community College. His father soon became Imam at a mosque next door to his house and often taught at other mosques. One of the mosques he and Adnan frequented was Masjid Al-Iman in Fort Lauderdale.
There, Adnan met Jose Padilla -- now being held as an ''enemy combatant'' for his alleged plot to explode a radioactive bomb in the United States.
The former imam of that mosque, Raed Awad, said Adnan El'Shukri-jumah and Padilla were acquainted. ''They knew each other; everybody knew each other who came,'' Awad said. ``But I can't say I remember them whispering in a corner or anything.''
Said Adnan's father: ``I don't remember him, but I remember counseling his wife when he left to divorce her. That's it.''
The family acknowledges that Adnan had a quick temper.
''He never really had a childhood,'' his mother said. ``Sometimes I blame that for his quick temper. But we all have tempers in this family.''
On Oct. 12, 1997, neighbors telephoned Miramar police about a commotion at the family's house.
The younger siblings ''locked themselves in the bedrooms to protect themselves from their brother,'' Officer David Goetz wrote. The report said Adnan told officers ``he had come home and found clothes laying all over the place so he hit them.''
His 13-year-old sister Aida had a bite wound on her arm, and another sister was hit in the face, the police report says.
The mother ''conveyed to me that her son being male, he was expected to carry the role of disciplinarian,'' Goetz wrote.
Aida, now 18, said the entire incident was overblown. ``My brother is not mean or abusive.''
In 1999, Adnan organized garage sales and car washes to raise money for Muslim refugees of the war in Bosnia. ''I remember him telling me once that he felt like those people were his family too,'' his mother said.
At the time, his family said, neither they nor Adnan were aware that the charity they supported -- Global Relief Fund -- was allegedly involved in funding terrorist organizations.
About the same time, the family befriended a man named Imran Farooq Mandhai -- who later would become the genesis of the FBI's suspicions about Adnan.
Mandhai, now serving nearly 12 years in prison for plotting to blow up power plants and other South Florida facilities, first approached Gulshair's father for spiritual leadership. The family described him as a follower of little intellect but lovable.
AN ACQUAINTANCE FALLS
A man the imam counseled
was under FBI surveillance
Mandhai was ensnared in a federal terrorism investigation in early 2001 in which discussions of his plots were recorded by undercover agents. It is in these recordings that Adnan's name first became known to federal authorities.
On March 13, 2001, Mandhai told an undercover agent: ``Brother, why don't you come with us to Adnan.''
``Probably he, he will join with us.''
Federal agents made recorded attempts to recruit Adnan, according to two federal sources involved in the investigation, but recorded only innocent chatter. Sources said the FBI theorized that he was too intelligent and too wary.
Adnan's family vaguely remembers him discussing suspicious acquaintances. ''I remember him saying that something was going on that he wasn't comfortable with,'' his mother said. ``Now I know what he was talking about.''
Two months later, Adnan left for Saudi Arabia via Trinidad and Panama, his family said.
He was in Trinidad in May trying to sell Islamic goods and trinkets, his family said.
''He wanted so much to get married and have children,'' his mother said. ``And there were things he didn't like about American customs. He didn't like what people wore, the permissiveness. He wanted to get married back home.''
FBI BEGINS VISITING
After 9/11, it becomes clear
the son is under suspicion
The family said the first time they met with FBI agents was in the weeks following Sept. 11.
It was the first in a half-dozen visits from agents looking for information.
During the first FBI visit, the family said, Adnan had not been in touch.
''When he did call I told him the FBI was looking for him,'' said his mother, Zurah Abdu Ahmed. ``He wanted to come home, but I told him to stay away. I was very scared for him.''
She said the family is afraid that if Adnan is arrested he will be incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for months until the government concludes he is innocent.
''I tell him we don't want to know where he is,'' she said. ``We tell him to stay put.''
She said the last time he called was in October. He was teaching English in Morocco and had married. ''These are not the actions of a terrorist,'' she said.
SEARCH BECOMES HUNT
A convict mentions a name;
authorities' focus sharpens
After Sept. 11, federal sources said Mandhai was given a lie-detector test in which he was asked whether he knew any of the suspected terrorists involved in the attacks.
The polygraph indicated he was lying when he said no, sources said.
Confronted with the deception, Mandhai told authorities that he was thinking of Adnan, sources said.
The search for Adnan continued quietly until the arrest in March of Mohammed. On March 20, the FBI posted a worldwide alert for Adnan El'Shukri-jumah, with various assumed names, as a possible terror threat.
''I think he is reading this and seeing this on television somewhere and is very worried about us,'' said El'Shukri-jumah's mother. ``But he knows we will be OK.''
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| The FBI is seeking Adnan Gulshair El'Shakrijumah worldwide. |
Trinidadian Islamic Group Threatens to Use Chemical and Biological Weapons
NY DAILY NEWS.com: "IRAQIS TARGETED W RANCH" by Gordon Meek (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON - An Iraqi terror team armed with millions of dollars tried to get smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico to Crawford, Tex. - the site of President Bush's ranch, a law enforcement source said yesterday. The alarming attempt to infiltrate the country occurred this month, the source said. It is not known what the Iraqis planned to do in Crawford, but Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate Bush's father, the former President George Bush, in 1993. The unidentified Iraqis wanted to hire smugglers to sneak them into the U.S. because they "wanted to get to the Crawford ranch," according to the well-placed law enforcement source. They also asked a Mexican doctor and a lawyer named Claudio to change about $100 million in Iraqi dinars into U.S. currency - about $325 million.") (March 29, 2003) (Read More...)
INDY STAR.com - INDIANA NEWS (AP): "IMMIGRATION RUMOR SENDS SOME EVANSVILLE WORKERS RUNNING" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "EVANSVILLE, IND. -- A rumor that immigration officials were afoot caused about three dozen AmeriQual Group LLC's workers to flee its plant, briefly slowing production of prepackaged meals for the military. Between 30 and 40 temporary workers left the plant on U.S. 41 Wednesday after rumors spread that federal immigration officials were in the building.") (March 28, 2003) (Read More...)
FBI.gov.: SEEKING INFO: "Adnan G. El Shukrijumah" (INFO NOTE: Mr. Shukrijumah is also known as "Adnan G. El Shukri Jumah; Abu Arif; Ja'far Al-Tayar; Jaffar Al-Tayyar; Jafar Tayar; Jaafar Al-Tayyar." "Remarks: El Shukrijumah occasionally wears a beard. El Shukrijumah carries a Guyanese passport, but may attempt to enter the U.S. with a Saudi, Canadian, or Trinidadian passport. DETAILS: Adnan G. El Shukrijumah is wanted in connection with possible threats against the United States.") (CLICK HERE to view photo and description.)
WTOP.com (AP): "FBI PROBES LINKS TERROR SUSPECT, AL-QAIDA" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI worked Friday to establish links between a Saudi-born man, suspected of being part of the al-Qaida terror network, and other terror suspects including alleged "dirty bomb" plotter Jose Padilla. Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 27, lived in South Florida at the same time as Padilla, an American being held in a military brig on charges of being an "enemy combatant." Padilla, a former member of a Chicago street gang and a Muslim convert, is suspected of planning to detonate a "dirty bomb" that would have spewed radiological material into the air.") (March 21, 2003) (Read More...)
It turned out to be bogus- instead of using the funds to fight the Russians it appears he had used all that tithe money to build his own reputation, his own pockets, and his own terror network- the most he did was fund schools, although those were really nothing more than recruitment and training camps for future terrorists.
He was so radical the original group to which he belonged broke from him during the Afghan-Russo war and they went one way while he got even more anti-western. As I understand it, one group wanted to focus their efforts solely on Afghanistan while bin Laden wanted to globalize the jihad and spread it as far as possible. Of course, after the group broke apart, he did just that and really wasn't much use against the Russians at all, though after the Afghans did win- with US help- bin Laden was quick to try to take credit for it.
Yet no one in the press questioned his claims, and no one wondered where he had put all that money well-meaning donors had given him to "free Afghanistan from the Russians," Not even when his grandious claims of bunkers and tunnel complexes turned out to be false.
Bin Laden has Yemeni roots & Palestinian mentoring- the Yemenis tend towards the most militant of the sunni/wahabbist sect of Islam and the Palestinians are... well, Palestinians... the mercenaries of the islamic world. He had all along been putting the money into building al Qaeda, and organization which was not created after the Gulf War as so many think, but years before that.
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