Free Republic

SNIPPET: "The FBI says that an actor threatened to kill flight passengers on a flight from Chicago Tuesday night. The plan was headed to Orange County and Arash "Ash" Durrani, 26, is going to appear in federal court Friday. Sources say that Ash Durrani was being unruly by pacing the aisles, demanding alcohol, harassing female passengers and threatening to kill people. According to the affidavit, the deranged model and actor yelled, "I'm from Afghanistan and I will murder all of you." This San Antonio Celebrity Examiner is just in shock. Did he say Afghanistan? Durrani was born in Alexandria, Virginia."

One billion muslims can't be wrong: Pak Minister wants Obama to be ''leader of all Muslims'' MSN Islamabad, Sep 2 (PTI) A Pakistani minister wants US President Barack Obama to offer Eid prayers at Ground Zero in New York and become the "Amir-ul-Momineen" or Caliph of Muslims. Minister of State for Industries Ayatullah Durrani, who belongs to the ruling Pakistan People''s Party, said the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr festival, expected to be observed on September 11, would be a "golden opportunity" for Obama to offer Eid prayers and declare himself the leader of all Muslims. "In this way, all the problems of...

TORONTO -- SNIPPET: "The so-called Toronto 18 eventually split into two groups after the leaders had a falling out. One thing the groups still had in common was a misdirected paranoia. They worried they were being watched by the authorities, but little did they know two of their trusted confidants were police agents. At one meeting one of the plotters instructed a man who was actually an RCMP agent to take the battery out of his cellphone so their conversation couldn't be intercepted. Another plotter gave an agent a test to see if he was a spy. He passed." SNIPPET:...

SNIPPET: "Zakaria Amara, 24, the leader of the group - which planned to detonate truck bombs outside the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Toronto Stock Exchange and an Ontario military base - was sentenced to life in prison on Monday. He will be eligible for parole in 2016 - 10 years from the day of his arrest." SNIPPET: "Another conspirator, Saad Gaya, 22, was sentenced on Monday to 12 years in prison." SNIPPET: "Amin Mohamed Durrani took part in a plot to establish an armed, Al-Qaeda-type terror cell in Toronto "and then to create some sort...

SAN DIEGO - A former military intelligence officer was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison for helping a convicted arms trafficker export parts for jet fighters and other aircraft that were ultimately destined for Iran. George Charles Budenz II, a retired Navy commander, pleaded guilty in November to three counts of illegally exporting engine parts for F-5 fighters, T-38 military trainers and Chinook helicopters to Malaysia and Belgium on behalf of Pakistani arms dealer Arif Ali Durrani. In court, Budenz called Durrani a "lying snake" who took advantage of him at a time of personal and financial distress....

A Pakistani man who was convicted in the 1980s of supplying Iran with weapons systems was sentenced Monday to more than 12 years in federal prison for coordinating the recent export of military aircraft components ultimately destined for Iran. Authorities say Arif Ali Durrani coordinated the movement of fighter jet and helicopter parts in the 2004 and 2005 to Iran via Belgium, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates from his home in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Durrani was convicted in March on four counts of exporting engine parts and other components for the F-5 fighter jet and the Chinook helicopter. U.S....

VETERAN PAKISTANI ARMS DEALER CONVICTED IN PLOT TO ILLEGALLY EXPORT U.S. FIGHTER JET COMPONENTS TO MIDDLE EAST SAN DIEGO – -- United States Attorney Carol C. Lam announced that today a federal jury in San Diego found Arif Ali Durrani guilty of multiple violations of the Arms Export Control Act. Specifically, the jury convicted Durrani of four counts of Exporting Defense Articles Without a License and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Offenses Against the United States. According to Assistant United States Attorney William Cole, who prosecuted the case, the evidence at trial established that Durrani intentionally conspired with other...

A Pakistani, convicted of exporting missile parts to Iran almost 20 years ago, is being accused in a San Diego court of conspiring to smuggle jet engine components from the United States to Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium (and IRAN). Arif Ali Durrani, 55, was initially accused of illegally exporting through his defunct California-based company called Lonestar Aerospace, 110 compressor blades for the General Electric J-85 military aircraft engine to Jordan. Those charges were dropped on Sept 23 after the US Attorney?s Office determined that the Jordan government had a license to receive the goods. The same day,...

MEXICO CITY, June 22 (Reuters) - A man arrested in Mexico and named as a key terrorism suspect with possible links to the Sept. 11 attackers, is in fact a tourist who poses no security risk, red-faced Mexican authorities said on Wednesday. The attorney general's office set bells ringing on Tuesday when it announced it had detained Lebanese-born British citizen Amer Haykel at a fire station in the state of Baja California Sur in cooperation with U.S. authorities. It said Haykel was wanted in the United States and was "linked to extremist groups presumably involved in the Sept. 11,...

Mexico arrested Amer Haykel, a British man of Arab extraction, sought by US authorities in connection with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Attorney General's office (PGR) said on Tuesday. Haykel was arrested in Todo Santos, a town in the northeastern Mexican state of Baja California, officials said. "The PGR arrested... Haykel, whom US authorities have linked to extremist groups presumably involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York," the office said in a statement. Officials said Haykel was arrested at the Todo Santos fire department, following "investigative and intelligence work and...