Posted on 06/03/2003 9:37:45 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
Federal Jury in Detroit Finds 1 of 4 Arab Immigrants
DETROIT June 3 — A jury on Tuesday found one of four Arab immigrants guilty of conspiring to support Islamic extremists plotting attacks in the United States and the Middle East.
Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, 37, was found guilty of two counts conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists and another conspiracy count to engage in fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents.
Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 22, was acquitted of all charges.
Ahmed Hannan, 34, and Karim Koubriti, 24, were each acquitted on two fraud counts.
The case, which began with a raid on a Detroit apartment just six days after the suicidal jetliner assaults on New York and Washington, was seen as a test of the government's ability to prosecute terrorist "sleeper" cells.
Prosecutors said the four men were working as part of a shadowy unidentified terrorist group. They said a videotape and sketches found in the raid cased potential targets including Las Vegas and Disneyland, and military installations in Turkey and Jordan.
Defense attorneys said their clients were victims of overzealous federal agents who relied on the lies of an admitted con man to build a flimsy case that didn't add up to terrorism.
I'd put a police tail on them for a while...
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