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Note: The following text is a quote: www.mnc-i.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE No. 20091011-05 October 11, 2009 Iraqi SWAT arrests 2006 sniper suspect Multi-National Corps-Iraq PAO RAMADI, Iraq - Elements of the Ramadi and Habbaniyah Iraq Special Weapons and Tactics teams, with U.S. Special Operations advisors, arrested an individual who is a suspect involved in multiple sniper shootings throughout Anbar Province Oct. 9 near Ramadi. The Magistrate Court of Ar Ramadi issued a warrant for Abd al-Qadir Afan Qafe’s arrest after his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of an Iraqi Army Soldier in 2006 and the shooting of a...

"The liquid bomb plot 'terror banker' still walking free in London as Yard chief accuses U.S. of rushing investigation" By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Last updated at 2:26 PM on 08th September 2009 SNIPPET: "And it also emerged today that a suspected key figure in the plot is still at large in Britain despite being pinpointed as an Al Qaeda financier with links both to the airline plan and the 21/7 bombers." SNIPPET: "Intelligence sources in the UK have indicated it was surveillance of Mohammed Al Ghabra, 29, who first led them to the airline plotters. He is suspected of being...

The Law: Terrorists have had lots to celebrate recently as court rulings from Bangkok to Madrid wiped out years of work to stop them and raised doubts about treating the war on terror as a law-enforcement action.Last Friday, a U.S. federal judge ordered the release of Sheik Mohammed al-Moayad, a Yemeni cleric convicted in 2005 of financing Hamas and trying to bankroll al-Qaida by as much as $20 million. Al-Moayad had been sentenced to 75 years, but based on claims of improperly admitted evidence, a judge ordered him freed. Now set for deportation, he will likely kill again. Then on...

SOMALI pirates fired in the air in jubilation after receiving a $1.8 million ransom in exchange for the release of a German-owned vessel and its 11-member crew. Somali sea gangs, operating in the strategic shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe, have made millions of dollars in ransom from hijacking vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. "We have taken a $1.8 million ransom and released the German ship," pirate Ahmed said from a lair in the town of Eyl on the Somali coast. The 146-metre MV Victoria, an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged cargo vessel, was hijacked by eight pirates...

Note: The following text is a quote: Federal Judge Hands Downs Sentences in Holy Land Foundation Case Holy Land Foundation and Leaders Convicted on Providing Material Support to Hamas Terrorist Organization Today, in federal court in Dallas, U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis sentenced the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five of its leaders following their convictions by a federal jury in November 2008 on charges of providing material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. "Today's sentences mark the culmination of many years of painstaking investigative and prosecutorial work at the federal, state and...

"MI5 linked to arrest of Britons in Syria Spy agency investigated woman accused by Damascus of sending UK money to al-Qaida offshoot, says Labour peer" SNIPPET: "Relatives of Maryam Kallis and Yasser Ahmed say they have not been told the reasons for their arrests two months ago and are concerned they may be suffering severe mistreatment. The Syrian embassy in London has alleged that Kallis received funds from an individual "who resides in the UK" and conveyed them to "a terrorist network related to al-Qaida". The assertion suggests that the individual would have been investigated by MI5." SNIPPET: "Kallis, 36,...

The Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are directed to their targets by a "consultant" team in London, according to European military intelligence. Pirate groups have "well-placed informers" in London who are in regular contact with control centres in Somalia where decisions on which vessels to attack are made. These London-based "consultants" help the pirates select targets, providing information on the ships' cargoes and courses. In at least one case the pirates have remained in contact with their London informants from the hijacked ship, according to one targeted shipping company. The pirates' information network extends to...

SNIPPET: "The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new post from online jihadi discussion forums about how to finance jihad-related websites without being "ensnared" in a trap by law enforcement: ..."

Thousands of emeralds are pouring onto world gem markets from the Swat valley in Pakistan, sold to fund the Taliban's jihad against the West.Militants have begun reopening lucrative emerald mines which had been closed by the government, since they took full control of the poor but picturesque region in the north of the country under a controversial peace deal last month. They are using revenue from the sale of the emeralds to help finance attacks on Nato forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, and to support their drive to extend harsh sharia, including public whippings and summary executions, into more regions of...

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom announced that it is reopening dialogue with the political wing of Hezbollah. Unlike the United States, the United Kingdom has only banned Hezbollah's terrorist (External Security Organization) and military wings. The ban on the terrorist wing came in 2000, while the ban on the military wing only came in June 2008 in response to Hezbollah's "providing active support to militants in Iraq who are responsible for attacks both on coalition forces and on Iraqi civilians, including providing training in the use of deadly roadside bombs," for plots to kidnap British security workers in Iraq,...

The United States plans to offer more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel’s offensive operation and to strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, U.S. officials said on Monday. The money, which requires U.S. congressional approval, will be distributed through the seemingly dysfunctional and inefficient United Nations and other bodies and not via the Radical Islamist Group Hamas, which rules Gaza. Hamas seems to have a unique way to get to any money that comes into Gaza, doesn’t it? Ever since the outgoing Kadima government ended Operation Cast Lead in Gaza on January 20, the Palestinians have steadily stepped-up...

In a stark departure from Bush administration policy, the Justice Department is preparing to charge the only alleged enemy combatant held on U.S. soil in the federal court system, ABC News has learned. U.S. officials said Ali Saleh Kahlah al Marri, a Qatari national whom FBI agents arrested in Illinois in December 2001, could face charges for allegedly providing material support to terrorists. One day before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, al Marri and his family legally entered the United States so he could begin a master's degree program at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. He had received a bachelor's...

February 5, 2009 Note: the following text is a quote: http://baltimore.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/ba020509.htm PAKISTANI NATIONAL PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO OPERATE AN UNLICENSED MONEY REMITTING BUSINESS Baltimore, Maryland - Imdad Ullah Ranjha, age 34, a Pakistani national residing in Glen Burnie, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money remitting business, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. According to his guilty plea, Imdad Ranjha worked at Hamza, Inc., a money remitter business in the District of Columbia operated by co-defendant Saifullah Ranjha (S. Ranjha). A cooperating witness, acting at the direction of law...

NEFA Foundation: Fatah al-Islam Claims Death of Leader, Endorses Terror Financing Through Bank Robberies SNIPPET: "Fatah al-Islam was also specifically insistent on the legitimacy of committing bank robberies as a financing tactic: “we say, relying on Allah, that stealing money from the infidels, from the usurious banks and the institutions which belong to the infidel regimes and states, is a legal thing which Allah has permitted us to do. This money is being seized from them and instead directed towards jihad and the mujahideen in order to fulfill their needs, to buy equipment etc.” English translations of the communiques can...

As far as illicit businesses with low risk and high rewards go, it doesn’t get much better than piracy on the high seas. The profit margins can easily surpass those of the cocaine trade. The risks? “There is no reason not to be a pirate,” according to U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney, who commands the U.S. navy’s Fifth Fleet. “The vessel I’m trying to pirate, they won’t shoot at me. I’m going to get my money.” Even pirates who are intercepted have little to fear. “They won’t arrest me because there’s no place to try me.” Gortney’s assessment of piracy’s...

FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

BEIJING: The Chinese government has indicated it is not interested in investigating allegations that the Bank of China was involved in transferring millions of dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad for carrying out terrorist activities in Israel between 2004 and 2007.The allegations have been made in the form of lawsuits filed in US courts by a group of 100 Israelis including parents of a 4-year old boy killed in terrorist attack in 2004. The group has alleged that BOC put through dozens of wire transfers totalling several million dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.Jiang Yu, spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign...

MANAMA (AFP) — Police in Bahrain said on Saturday one man was arrested and another freed on bail after they were accused of cooperating with and funding a foreign terrorist group, a reference to Al-Qaeda. One suspect had delivered funds "to a foreign group that uses terrorism to reach its aims" and that his beliefs "could affect security," according to a public prosecution statement. "The first suspect has admitted delivering money to that group abroad, while the second has denied it... Both suspects have been accused of cooperating with a terrorist group abroad and financing a terrorist group."

YouTube Videos Are Produced by Al Qaeda and Other Terror Organizations; Videos Show Attacks on U.S. Soldiers, Civilians WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Monday called on Google to remove Internet video content produced by terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda. The videos – readily available on YouTube –show assassinations, deaths of U.S. soldiers and civilians, weapons training, incendiary speeches by al-Qaeda leadership, and other material intended to encourage violence against the West. The videos are branded with Al-Qaeda logos – a practice detailed in a recent bipartisan Committee staff report entitled “Violent Islamist Extremism,...

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...

(IsraelNN.com) Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director of the American Center for Democracy, said at the Jerusalem Conference Tuesday that Saudi Arabian bankers are the main financiers of global terrorism. Corrupt “Sharia financing” banking practices - legal under Islamic law - are a fairly new phenomenon, Ehrenfeld said. They were first developed by the Muslim brotherhood in the 70s, following the financial power gained by Saudis during the oil boom. Ehrenfeld at Jerusalem Conference ”Saudis are using money in order to corrupt the West, to fund terrorism, and eventually to take over the West,” said Ehrenfeld. “For years, Saudi Arabia has been a...

On December 19, 2007, a U.S.-based law firm succeeded in freezing the funds of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in France on behalf of American clients who, in the judgment of U.S. courts, were victims of terrorist attacks sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Iran has been using its state institutions as agents of the terror activity it perpetrates throughout the world. The funding for this terror activity is partly provided via Bank Melli and sometimes also via Bank Saderat. Bank Melli also played a pivotal role in financing the 1994 AMIA bombing in Argentina. AMIA was...

A federal judge in Dallas declared a mistrial in the case of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) when a jury was unable to reach a verdict on 197 counts brought by the government that accused the Muslim charity of funding terrorism. A hung jury, however, is not an acquittal and even if the Holy Land Foundation eventually is acquitted (the government has indicated it will retry the case) it doesn't necessarily mean the accused is innocent (think O.J. Simpson's murder trial). Anyone in doubt about the game plan for infiltrating, undermining and attacking America from within...

DALLAS — A mistrial has been declared for five of six defendants in the case of a Muslim charity charged with financing Middle Eastern terrorists. The read verdict said the jurors found three leaders of a group that was once America's largest Muslim charity not guilty of funneling illegal aid to terrorists, but the panel was sent back to deliberate on the other defendants after three jurors said the verdicts read in court were wrong. Because of the confusion, the judge did not officially accept those verdicts, which aquitted charity fundraiser Mufid Abdulqader on all counts and two others on...

Al Qaeda 'Re-Emerging' in Pakistan Sanctuaries The U.S. military said Tuesday it expected Al Qaeda to continue its "re-emergence" in sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas from where it supported attacks in Afghanistan. Sanctuary was provided to Al Qaeda and Taliban rebels after Islamabad signed a peace deal with militants in a desperate attempt to quell the unrest in its federally administered areas in September 2006, a U.S. military official said. The militants called off the deal in July this year after Pakistani security forces raided a radical mosque in Islamabad where rebels had massed. Dozens were killed in those...

Terror Funding: Inviting Americans to convert, Osama bin Laden says Islam requires no tax, just a 2.5% tithe to Allah. What he doesn't say is much of those funds benefit terrorists like him. The shocking truth is that Islamic religious giving — called "zakat," the third pillar of Islam — supports terrorism. And millions of the blood money is donated by American Muslims through mosques and various charities once considered mainstream. Since 9/11, U.S. counterterrorism authorities have had to put a whopping six major Muslim charities out of business, including the biggest — the Holy Land Foundation. All have been...

Emerging digital technologies to move money instantaneously and anonymously open up new possibilities for criminals and terrorists, while regulatory and law-enforcement agencies are limping far behind. On May 3, at the release of the 2007 Money Laundering Strategy, the U.S. Treasury spokesperson was pleased to note: "Focusing on well-established money laundering methods and emerging trends identified in the Assessment, we have created a robust strategy for combating money laundering, deterring criminals, and addressing areas vulnerable to exploitation." Yet the latest digital advances open to criminals and terrorists -- mobile phones or other mobile devices to secretly transfer money globally, or...

SOMETIMES WHAT WE DON'T KNOW can indeed hurt us. This was the case in 2006, when reporters noticed significant fighting between Iraqi insurgent factions. This confused journalists and government analysts, but the prevailing attitude was that if the insurgents were fighting each other, at least they weren't fighting us. It turned out that the group that bore the brunt of this violence would later develop into the Anbar Salvation Front, which has proved to be one of our most important local allies in Iraq. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), was trying to wipe...

Charity charged with funneling funds to Iraq Columbia Islamic group, now defunct, is accused of sending $1.4 million during Hussein’s reign. By MARK MORRIS The Kansas City Star A defunct Columbia charity and five officers and associates have been charged with illegally sending more than $1.4 million to Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power. The 33-count federal indictment, unsealed Wednesday in Kansas City, is the latest assault on a charity that in 2004 was designated a supporter of global terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and Hamas. At its core, the indictment alleges the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA solicited...

Khadijah Ghafur sat silently in hijab and correctional jumpsuit, facing a judge, a lengthy prison term and the complete collapse of her elaborate plans. With a boundless determination that opened eyes and pockets, Sister Khadijah had built a chain of state-funded charter schools that stretched from Sunnyvale to Southern California. Now they were closed, and the self-styled civil rights activist from Selma, Ala., was convicted of stealing tens of thousands of dollars of public money meant for kids. Superior Court Judge R.L. Putnam got right to the point. He sentenced her to 14 years. But even after Ghafur's monthlong trial,...

Washington - The United States (US) treasury department named two South African cousins as al-Qaeda financiers and facilitators, ordering a freeze on any US assets they may have and banning Americans from doing business with them. The treasury, invoking an executive order used to combat terrorist financing and money laundering activities, said Farhad Ahmed Dockrat provided funds to a trust used by al-Qaeda, and his cousin, Junaid Ismail Dockrat, helped facilitate travel of South Africans to Pakistan for al-Qaeda training. The action ends days of speculation about the two Muslim cousins after a South African foreign ministry spokesperson said Johannesburg...

US blacklists Iranian state bank The United States has blacklisted one of Iran's largest banks, accusing it of a key role in financing the development of weapons of mass destruction. A US treasury official said state-owned Bank Sepah was the "financial lynchpin" in Iran's missile procurement network. The move freezes its assets in the US and bars any US companies or citizens from doing business with the bank. The US says Iran is working to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. "Bank Sepah is the financial lynchpin of Iran's missile procurement network and has...

An investigation dossier on suspected al-Qaeda regional leader Malek Charahil, who was arrested in the southern Turkish city of Hatay, has been completed. Adana public prosecutor Ayhan Unal stated in the summary of the Tunisian suspect’s cross examination that he had established financial links between Europe and Iraq. The prosecutor noted that Belgian-origin Bilal Soughir was regularly sending large sums of money to accounts opened in various banks in Malek Charahili’s name, who in return was transferring these sums to the late Iraqi Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s account. Caught by the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) and Turkish police...

The Court of Appeals has ordered a freeze on the bank accounts of International Islamic Relief Organization, suspected to be a conduit of funding for Abu Sayyaf and other groups linked to Al Qaida in the country. In a four-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Arcangelita Romilla Lontok, the CA’s Third Division issued the freeze order at the request of the Anti-Money Laundering Council. Covered by the court order is IIRO’s bank account number 0200100100000011145671, with the Bank of Philippine Islands. The court said there is probable cause that the account is being used to bankroll terrorist activities in the...

Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) - The international community should speed up efforts to prevent terrorist groups from using the proceeds from illicit diamond trade to finance their activities and launder their funds, campaigners say. A Nairobi-based African affairs analyst, Adan Mohamed, said it was "very likely" that groups like Hizballah still use the trade to raise additional revenue. "Nothing much has happened in putting mechanisms in place to prevent diamond trade from being used to clean dirty cash or finance conflicts," he said.Investigations by researchers, human rights groups, the United Nations and media organizations have revealed how Hizballah exploited weakness in...

Sarajevo, 29 June (AKI) - Investigators are probing the Bosnian branch of the humanitarian organisation Revival of Islamic Heritage Society Kuwait (RIHSK) for possible terrorist links and financing of an Islamic terrorist organisation, Bosnian daily Nezavisne vovine reported on Thursday. RHISK channelled some 14 million euros to its sister organisation in Bosnia from January 1, 2002 to December 2005, the paper said, quoting unnamed prosecution sources. The Bosnian organisation - registered under the same name as RIHSK and translated into Bosnian - hasn’t kept records on how the money was spent, the paper said. Nor has it ever submitted final...

The New York Times September 24, 2001 Monday Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Column 1; Editorial Desk; Pg. 30 LENGTH: 545 words HEADLINE: Finances of Terror Organizing the hijacking of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took significant sums of money. [snip] Washington and its allies must also disable the financial networks used by terrorists. [snip] Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities. There must also must be closer coordination among America's law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies....

Gianfranco Fini, the Italian Foreign Minister, increased a diplomatic row with the United States today by demanding that Washington identify and punish those responsible for the shooting of Rome’s top intelligence agent in Iraq. Signor Fini dismissed the American version that a lack of communication was responsible for the death of Nicola Calipari, who died in a hail of gunfire from US troops as he escorted a freed Italian hostage to Baghdad airport on Friday. Signor Calipari had made "all the necessary contacts" with US authorities in Baghdad, the minister said. In his account to parliament of the shooting, which...

Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman (California) is reported to have given a letter to antiwar activists to facilitate their delivery of aid to the 'other side' in Fallujah, Iraq.The leftist online publication Peace and Resistance, in an article published January 1, said that Rep. Waxman had written a letter addressed to the American ambassador in Amman, Jordan to help ease transit through Customs of $600,000 worth of medical supplies and cash collected by the anti-American groups Code Pink and Global Exchange. According to the groups' leader, Medea Benjamin, the aid is destined for the "other side" in Fallujah.The letter was being...

Saddam, the ATM of Al Qaeda By Christopher S. Carson FrontPageMagazine.com | November 15, 2004 The Report of the 9/11 Commission has been digested, and the news media outlets have seized upon it as confirmation of their view that al Qaeda is a kind of purely stateless entity that never had "operational links" with rogue states like Iraq. Somehow, goes the thrust of the Report, Osama bin Laden was for years able to finance, train and supply an international terrorist corporation that had ongoing jihad operations in fifty countries - by himself, on no more than a $30 million personal...

Radical Islamic cells in Europe are financing terror networks by withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars a month from cash machines with fake credit cards, according to France's top anti-terrorism judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere. The judge said two years ago investigators uncovered one such financing cell in France. Ten suspected Islamic militants were withdrawing more than $100,000 a month from cash-machines in other European countries. "The (Islamic) European networks finance themselves primarily through microfinancing systems - criminal activity that is very profitable," he said Wednesday. (AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

U.S. Treasury officials say Saudi Arabia and the United States will launch a joint task force this week to investigate terrorist financing in the kingdom. Treasury Department general consul David Aufhauser, who announced the task force, says it represents Saudi Arabia's rekindled desire to tackle terrorism. He says Riyadh's renewed determination follows the deadly May bombings in Riyadh that targeted Western housing complexes. He also referred to a recent U.S. Congressional report as a reason for Saudi Arabian cooperation. News reports said that document cited possible financial links between Saudi Arabia and the September 11 hijackers. Mr. Aufhauser says the...