Malls see arrests by FBI, INS

Pensacola News Journal ^ | 06/27/02 | Brett Norman/Sean Smith

[AmusedBystander]

At least three men reportedly were taken into federal custody in two Pensacola malls as the FBI and the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated a nationwide sweep Wednesday.

Witnesses said plain-clothes agents closed Intrigue jewelry vendors at Cordova and University malls, Wild Things at University and possibly other shops.

[AmusedBystander]

I guess INS is doing more around the country than we hear about in the national press.

[Marine Inspector]

We are.

[Miss Marple]

Heads up!

[Constitutions Grandchild]

Thanks. It only makes sense you would care as much or more about this place than we do, but it's H.E.L.L. not knowing for sure if this is being taken care of. Actually, everything is going as I hoped it would -- quiet, but certain. Big XX's and OO's to the entire team protecting this country.

[Marine Inspector]

Your welcome and thank you for your kind words.

Things are moving slowly forward. We've got a long road ahead of us, but the administration is slowly letting the LEO's off the leash.

[DoughtyOne]

 
the Case of the Freeper FRiva Feva is under scrutiny - super-sleuths are welcomed
come resolve the way to yesterday's Target Post, you're not out of the running yet
win your registration fees to the FRive Las Vegas Conference if you dare

[Sabertooth]

Thanks for the flag. While this is encouraging, the following stood out...

Witnesses said the three men in handcuffs appeared to be of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent.

Bill Hurlburt, an FBI spokesman from the regional Jacksonville office, said that "the only thing the Department of Justice has authorized in terms of a statement is that this activity is part of a joint investigation between the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the FBI, and there will be no further comment since the investigation is ongoing."

A Justice Department spokesman, who refused to be identified, said the roundup had nothing to do with concerns about possible Fourth of July terrorism but was related to immigration violations.

I don't think the FBI is generally called in on routine immigration violations. The fact that these guys were Middle Eastern or South Asian makes this smell like a terror investigation... in Pensacola! No surprise there.

Yes, it's always a good thing any time we get some bad guys. But this story doesn't appear to reveal any serious activity by the FedGov to end their virtual non-enforcement of most of the violations of our immigration laws, by the vast majority of Illegals who continue to merrily colonize our country.

[Chi-Town Lady]

Thanks!

[Marine Inspector]

About 75% of the Immigration violators that the INS gets in the terror sweeps have nothing to do with terror and end up getting deported.

While 80% of the INS investigators are currently concentrating on the terror sweeps, the other 20% are currently working smuggling cases and are catching many illegals also.

Over all, the apprehensions are up, compared to the 9 month period prior to 9/11.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Good to see you on the job. I hope that soon you will have some new superiors who will be inclined to give you and your co-workers all the resources you'll need to do your jobs better.

I've noted on another thread that although G.W. Bush has made a lot of public noise about being soft on immigration, from what I've seen of his actions it looks like he is actually inclined to put some teeth into our laws concerning people who are here illegally.

If my choice is between someone who does nothing about immigration while proclaiming their opposition to it, or someone who proclaims their support of immigration while taking action to limit it, I'll take the latter choice, thank you.

Good Grief, I just might even end up voting for the guy next time around.

[Marine Inspector]

Your welcome.

[Marine Inspector]

Thank you.

GWB is soft on Mexico, which accounts for 3/4 of the illegals in the country, and that’s the major problem. As long as he is soft on Mexico, the terrorist have an open door into the US.

[Sabertooth]

I'm glad.

Still, bringing the FBI to get three Middle Eastern and South Asian guys in Pensacola strikes one as not exactly routine... no?

[Marine Inspector]

It's part of the terrorist sweeps.

[Miss Marple]

Simon Malls is a key. I wil bet you that they did sweeps all over the country. Simon is based here in Indy. They own Mall of America, 4 big malls here in Indy, and lots more.

I will see what I can find out locally and report back to this thread.

By the way, there was some interesting stuff in the Washington Times this morning buried in an article about the Immigration Guy saying that we needed to care for illegals (which is ok with me as long as when we are done caring for them we ship them home). Fox is apparently trying to discourage some of the illegals, or is at least feeling like he needs to appear to do so. That is a little bit of progress.

[TomGuy]

interesting stuff in the Washington Times this morning buried in an article about the Immigration Guy saying that we needed to care for illegals

Link here: Top agent says U.S. must care for illegals

[Sabertooth]

Simon Malls is a key. I wil bet you that they did sweeps all over the country. Simon is based here in Indy. They own Mall of America, 4 big malls here in Indy, and lots more.

I'd say there's a decent chance these Pensacloa boys have 9/11 connections... or maybe anthrax at American Media.

Fox is apparently trying to discourage some of the illegals, or is at least feeling like he needs to appear to do so. That is a little bit of progress.

Well, he saw what happened to Section 245(i) this Spring. He's been talking lately about nothing happening on "normalization" of status for Illegals until next year. Hmmm... that would be after November. I don't trust him at all.

[Marine Inspector]

Mr. Aguilar is on of the folks that needs to go. He's a Clinton scum.

[SandfleaCSC]

Keep up the good work. Thank you for your efforts to keep us safe, encouraged, and informed. Best of luck to you and your people in the weeks and months ahead.

[Miss Marple]

Nothing in the Indianapolis paper. I called the paper and gave them the URL for the Pensacola paper and told them they should check it out.

Now I am having to do my own reporting!

[Sabertooth]

Now I am having to do my own reporting!

Isn't Miss Marple always invesitgating something?

[FITZ]

I guess INS is doing more around the country than we hear about in the national press.

I think you may be right ---the crime rate around here has fallen 11.1% --and here is on the border which means criminals aren't coming over to steal cars and rob Americans.

[Miss Marple]

Yes, I am always investigating. I just think it's ridiculous that the REPORTERS aren't!!

Too busy at their fancy soirees or whatever, I guess.

[Miss Marple]

Do you have Simon Malls in your area? If you do, check your local paper for news. And if no story is in the works, give them a tip on this Pensacola story. I want to know how many people were arrested!!

[AmusedBystander]

Another version of this story on local TV news stated that a similar raid was conducted in Richmond, Virginia the same day.

[ClancyJ]

I wonder if the Feds are on to intelligence that people are in place in the malls to carry out attacks at some designated point. Could easily be sleeper terrorists daily going to their jobs in their store in a mall. The easiest way to apprehend them is through INS investigations.

[deport]

Simon Malls....... Click their map to locate malls across the USA

[Miss Marple]

Thanks, deport! I want everyone to check out this story in their local area!

[Miss Marple]

Good deduction, Clalncy! There have been lots of warnings about malls over the last few months!

[Sabertooth]

The easiest way to apprehend them is through INS investigations.

Would have been as easy as it was obvious last Fall.

Why are there any Arab/Moslem non-citizens still in the country?

[thinden]

Marketing officials at the two malls, both owned by Simon Property Group Inc., said only that the FBI requested information, they provided it, and agents told them not to disclose what was requested.

been by the kiosks @ mccain lately? they're loaded.

[Miss Marple]

Why are there any Arab/Moslem non-citizens still in the country?

Because we have an administration that follows the law, not a dictatorship. You should be glad of this.

[Miss Marple]

Philadelphia also. Just picked it up on another thread. Intrigue Jewelers there as well.

[Dog]

Mall sweeps in Philly....

[Rockitz]

I'm heading back to Indy on the 5th. I guess I'll stay out of the malls. Eeeek!

[kcvl]

Simon Mall finder

[kcvl]

Arkansas -

McCain Mall - North Little Rock - AR

University Mall - Little Rock - AR

[Guennie]

Just as I thought.....Our Melbourne Square Mall is a Simon Mall...........but I find no listing of Intrique Jewelers....

...HOWEVER.....I distinctly remember a small kiosk in the middle of our mall that has cheap looking gold type jewelry, and run by mid-eastern types.

[mountaineer]

I recall Mr. Simon being a huge Clinton contributor, which is one of the reasons I try to avoid patronizing his malls (the other being that I hate malls!). Of course, it would be silly to blame him - and I'm not - for renting kiosk space to (possible) Moslem terrorists if they appeared legit.

[terilyn]

I just checked the two Simons Malls in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area.

No Intrigue Jewelers at either the Mall of America, (Bloomington, MN), or at the Maplewood Mall, (Maplewood/St. Paul), MN.

Do you know if they are they operating under other names?

[antidisestablishment]

Company Overview



Simon Property Group, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership and management of income-producing properties, primarily regional malls and community shopping centers. Through its subsidiary partnerships, it currently owns or has an interest in 258 properties containing an aggregate of 195 million square feet of gross leasable area in 36 states, as well as eight assets in Europe and Canada.

SPG is the largest publicly traded retail real estate company in North America with a total market capitalization of approximately $21.5 billion.

[antidisestablishment]

They are in Vegas at the Luxor.

[antidisestablishment]

Man who took photos of Trade Center charged Former Whitehall resident altered passport, used it, and altered visa papers, feds say.

By Christine Schiavo Of The Morning Call

May 22, 2002

Federal charges were filed Tuesday against a Whitehall Township man arrested at the Lehigh Valley Mall after a clerk at a photo shop became suspicious of snapshots he had taken of the World Trade Center days before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Ashar Iqbal Butt, a 22-year-old native of Pakistan, was charged in U.S. Eastern District Court in Philadelphia with altering a passport, using an altered passport and altering a visa document. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years. A hearing has not been set.

Also known as Mobasser Mahmood and Max Hassan, Butt was one of two employees at Intrigue Jewelers, a mall kiosk, arrested at the mall on Sept. 12 for allegedly carrying false passports. He lived in a one-bedroom basement unit at Parkview Apartments in Whitehall with at least one other man, a woman and a child.

The apartment was rented to Mohammed Mir, who moved out without notice in September, leaving clothing and furniture as well as a baby's picture. The Morning Call reported in December that federal agents searched the apartment on Sept. 13, a day after a clerk at a photo processing store in the mall called them about the suspicious snapshots.

According to a federal court affidavit:

Butt dropped off film for one-hour development on Sept. 8 and was told by a clerk that processing would take a few days. Butt returned for the film on Sept. 12, but the clerk couldn't find the pictures under his name. Butt asked him to try the name Hassan and then the name Max, but the pictures weren't under either of those.

Butt left the store anxious and in a hurry. The clerk then searched the photo packets more thoroughly and found one with the name Burt Asmar. He opened it to find Butt in the pictures, which were exclusively of the World Trade Center. There were 25 shots with panoramic views taken both inside and outside the complex during a six-hour period. The clerk immediately called police.

Special Agent Kenneth G. Vincent of the FBI found Ashar Butt at work at the mall that day. Butt told Vincent his name was Mobasser Mahmood, that he was a citizen of the United Kingdom and that he was in the United States for two weeks on a visitor's visa. He said his passport was with a friend in Jersey City, N.J., and that his roommate Moeen Islam Butt could get it for him. As the conversation continued, Vincent found Butt's statements inconsistent.

He was taken to the federal courthouse in Allentown for questioning that day. On Sept. 14, the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., provided a passport application and photo of Mobasser Mahmood. Vincent could see that Butt was not the man in the picture.

On Sept. 17, Vincent contacted Moeen Butt at Intrigue Jewelers, who turned over a passport for Mobasser Mahmood. The photograph on the passport was Butt's, but a forensic examination done a week later detected that it had been substituted for the original.

Confronted with the information while being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., Ashar Butt acknowledged that he had entered the United States illegally by using an altered passport of Mahmood.

He told Vincent that his father paid a smuggler in Pakistan $10,000 for fake Pakistani and United Kingdom passports. Butt was supposed to return the fake passports to the smuggling operation when he finished with them. He said he left Pakistan for Los Angeles on Aug. 5 and continued on to New York, then Whitehall. The affidavit does not say how long Butt lived in Whitehall.

Moeen Butt, also of Pakistan, was taken into custody Sept. 17 after admitting to Vincent that he bought a fake passport for $4,000. According to an affidavit filed Oct. 12, Moeen Butt also said he paid a woman he met in a bar $2,000 to marry him so that he could apply for immigration status. He told Vincent he had talked to the woman only once or twice since marrying her in Fort Lee, N.J., on April 24, 2001.

He pleaded guilty in April to altering a passport and marriage fraud, according to Rich Manieri, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia. Sentencing is scheduled for June 13.

It's not clear if Moeen Butt, whose address is the same basement apartment as Ashar's, is related to Ashar Butt.

Moeen Butt, 23, was supposed to begin managing Intrigue Jewelers around Sept. 17 because its previous manager was taken into federal custody for what the company's lawyer believed was a visa violation. The lawyer, Philip Calandrino of Orlando, Fla., said a manager named Hamza Mir left the business abruptly around Sept. 11 and was replaced by his brother, who was arrested by federal agents Sept. 12.

Calandrino did not know the brother's name. Contacted Tuesday, he said he did not know the name Ashar Butt.

Intrigue Jewelers closed the mall kiosk around Sept. 17.

christine.schiavo@mcall.com 610-820-6509 Copyright © 2002, The Morning Call

[ellery]

Not just Philly -- Monroeville Mall is right here in Pittsburgh...

[TexKat]

Feds sweep malls for terror funding links
June 27, 2002 Posted: 9:32 PM EDT (0132 GMT)






WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal agents conducted sweeps of shopping malls around the country this week and questioned more than 60 people in a search for possible sources for terrorism funding, officials said Thursday.

The joint investigation by the FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service apparently targeted Pakistanis operating or working at jewelry kiosks in malls.

Among the things investigators were looking for was whether money was being sent back to Pakistan to fund terror operations, officials said.

No evidence was found to support the allegation and no criminal charges were filed, they said, although the INS placed some of the people in custody for immigration violations.

The sweep -- which began Wednesday -- took place in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Dallas and other cities, including at least one in Connecticut, authorities told CNN.

Tariq Hussain, a Pakistani native who works at his brother's jewelry kiosk at the Mall at Robinson in Pittsburgh, told CNN affiliate WTAE that FBI and INS agents questioned him about Osama bin Laden.

"They asked me, 'Do you know him? Do you know anybody who knows him or is linked to him?'" Hussain said.

"They were trying to say that 'we'll put you in jail if you're linked to Osama.' I said, 'Go do what you got to do, because if I'm straight, I'm straight.'"

Hussain said the agents searched his apartment and asked him about photographs he took in New York.

"While we were in Times Square, I took pictures in Times Square, NASDAQ building or something," said Hussain. "They said, 'Why you took that picture? You planning to attack there or something?'"

[ladyinred]

We also have the gold sellers in our malls not listed as Intrique but ran by middle easterners. I was looking at the jewelry in one a week or so ago and the clerk was so overly friendly he gave me the creeps at the time.

I was a little shaken by him, but just put it off to my own "profiling", but now I am convinced that my bad feelings were justified.

This is frightening, they have access to our malls, and no one would question them being there. Understand some of the same company are doing mall security.

[Locked and Loaded]

We also have the gold sellers in our malls not listed as Intrique but ran by middle easterners. I was looking at the jewelry in one a week or so ago and the clerk was so overly friendly he gave me the creeps at the time.
I was a little shaken by him, but just put it off to my own "profiling", but now I am convinced that my bad feelings were justified.

Good thing I chose to be born a "gringo" in the US, and not a middle eastern person. Folks would think I'm a terrorist just because I'm a nice guy.
< /sarcasm>

[swarthyguy]

LOL! Some guys are just not going to win.

Smiling too much, too friendly, or too surly; or had a weird look in his eye.