Man Indicted for Phony Checks Says He Has Al Qaida Info (Detroit, Omar Shishani)

AP ^ | July 24, 2002 | Alexandra R. Moses

[Shermy]

DETROIT - A man arrested with $12 million in allegedly phony cashier's checks after arriving on a flight from Indonesia told government agents that he could provide them with information on terrorism, a U.S. attorney said Wednesday.

Omar Shishani also said the man the checks were made out to may belong to al-Qaida, assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Straus said.

[My Favorite Headache]

OH BUT SHERMY! I thought this guys family was laughing yesterday at the CRAZY thought that he could be connected to Al Qaeda! What a bunch of Sh!t. Lock him up and end it.

[dennisw]

Folding up like a flimsy card board box!

[Fred Mertz]

The other checks were dated Sept. 3, Sept. 5 and Sept. 6, 2002.

They're planning ahead.

I thought the initial reports went to lengths to avoid linking this guy to al Qaida.

[My Favorite Headache]

And it only took like what? 12 hours or so?

[TomGuy]

His reply, according to Straus, was, ``If you want to know about terrorism, I can help you with that.''

It's called, "You're on your own, Osama, I'm saving my own a$$."

[hellinahandcart]

``My brother didn't break any laws,'' Ali Shishani said from Amman, Jordan. ``The checks were in his pocket, but he didn't use them or try to cash them.''

Ahem--

The maximum penalty for the possession of counterfeit securities charge is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; for smuggling of merchandise the maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

[aristeides]

Should be easy to find any girls named al Qaeda.

[map]

Several people have been arrested in the Las Vegas area for passing similar checks, Laster said.

Does anyone know any details about this: Who passed the checks to whom and why?

[Stultis]

Uh, huh! "I wired the bomb to your starter, but I didn't commit a crime until you turn the key in the ignition."

[Madame Dufarge]

I wonder if this is him?

Apologies if anyone has posted this already.

[Shermy]

Said he's "young," so I doubt it.

I've looked for Vegas info, unlucky so far.

Here's a tidbit from a Detroit site, which gives the name on the check!

<

"...There are still many unanswered questions, but new information has come out in a federal indictment handed down Tuesday. His full name is Omar Abdel-Fatah Al-Shishani and some of the checks reportedly found in his luggage at Metro Airport last Wednesday night, $12 million in cashier's checks the government says were phony, were made out to someone named Baharuddin Masse.

[Madame Dufarge]

I kind of wondered about the "young" thing too.

I did a search on the "payee," but nothing came up.

[Shermy]

"Baharuddin" appears to be an Indonesian or Malaysian name.

[Shermy]

Here's a tidbit from a WashPost article:

U.S. investigators said Shishani has had no apparent income for the past several years, but they were continuing to scour financial records. They said his family seemed to live on the income of his wife, a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Pomona is the goddess of the harvest and the town of pomona is the home of the Los Angeles County fair.So it sounds like this guy intended to harvest a killing like a slick carnie flim flam guy and then get outta Dodge.Hey with 12 million he could almost buy a house in that Southern California real estate market.BWHAHAHAHAHA!

[APBaer]

"Should be easy to find any girls named al Qaeda."

I'll ask Al Bundy to be on the lookout for her at the shoe store (and the Nudie Bar).

He can phone it on as part of the TIPS program.

[Shermy]

Follow-up ping.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

How does one go about cashing a $5 mil check? Somehow, I don't think you can pass one of those down at the Stop-N-Shop.

[piasa]

Yeah, sort of conflicts with this story "his brother is simply a wealthy computer salesman who travels often."

Must be great to be commission-free on your sales record and remain wealthy.

And then one of his female relatives, his mother or something, said "he can't be providing computers for the Taliban, he can barely provide them for himself."

If nothing else he might have to answer to the IRS.