Yemeni cleric suspected of raising terrorist funds in Brooklyn

KC,COM ^ | JOHN MARZULLI NYDAilyNews

[swarthyguy]

NEW YORK - (KRT) - A prominent Yemeni cleric is suspected of raising money for terrorists at a Muslim charity and several mosques in Brooklyn, it was disclosed yesterday.

An FBI agent pulled back the veil on a secret investigation of Sheikh Abdullah Satar at the trial of an associate who is charged with lying about the cleric's activities.

The agent, Brian Murphy, said in Brooklyn Federal Court that Satar was under surveillance during a fund-raising swing through Brooklyn in early 2000.

At the time, the feds were conducting an investigation into the financing of terrorist groups.

After Satar - a parliament member in Yemen - left the U.S., he flew to Milan to meet "the No. 1 operative for al-Qaida in Italy," according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Moore.

Then, Murphy said, Satar gave a speech at the Muslim Institute of Milan blasting the U.S. for prosecuting a terrorist to curry favor with Jews.

The man on trial, Numan Maflahi, 30, was Satar's driver during the Brooklyn trip.

Murphy said Satar went to Park Slope to visit the Charitable Society of Social Welfare, a group that already was the subject of a probe into terrorist financing. Satar also raised money at the Al-Farooq mosque in Boerum Hill, the Institute of Islam in downtown Brooklyn, the Islamic Center of Canarsie and the Bay Ridge Islamic Center.

Last year, another Yemeni cleric was charged with delivering more than $20 million - some of it raised at the Al-Farooq mosque - to Osama Bin Laden.

An FBI informer was tipped to Satar's activities by a man later convicted of illegally transferring $22 million to Yemen.

The man had advised the informer to use the cleric to transfer money overseas "because Sheikh Satar has a diplomatic passport and was not subject to scrutiny and search by customs."

When asked by Maflahi's attorney whether the charity was on a government watch list, he replied, "Not as of yet."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Moore declined comment on Satar's whereabouts and the status of the investigation.

[swarthyguy]

Haven't seen this anywhere.

[swarthyguy]

A jihad grows(grew?) in Brooklyn.

These guys are just going to have to stop doing stuff in the mosques. Doubt you can clear your throat in one without the Feds knowing.

[wtc911]

Oh look....more of your guys doimg their terrorist supporting work in our neighborhood mosques....yep, those muslims really are helping us out every way they can.