Posted on 10/14/2004 6:03:13 AM PDT by Augie
Federal agents seized cars, scores of boxes and more than a dozen computers in what appeared to be a well-planned raid on the Islamic American Relief Agency near Providence and Broadway that began Wednesday afternoon and ended roughly six hours later.
No arrests were made.
FBI Special Agent Jeff Lanza said the raid was part of a long-running, ongoing investigation of the Islamic American Relief Agency. The U.S. Department of Treasury said in a release Wednesday that the name Islamic American Relief Agency is one of the names used by some of the 40 organizations worldwide with links to the Islamic African Relief Agency, which is alleged to have links to Osama bin Laden, Al Qaida and the Taliban. The Treasury Department blocked “all accounts, funds and assets” of the Islamic African Relief Agency and its affiliates in the United States on Wednesday.
The Treasury Department alleged that the overseas branches of the Islamic African Relief Agency provided “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to Bin Laden in 1999. Treasury also believes that as early as 2003, the group was responsible for moving money to the Palestinian territories to support terrorist activities and served “as a conduit to Hamas in one Western European country.”
FBI, IRS criminal investigative division and Joint Terrorism Task Force agents along with state and local police and highway patrol surrounded the organization’s office in a small, nondescript brick building at 201 E. Cherry about 2:30 p.m. At least two vans were searched and towed from the scene while the nearly 30 agents worked inside the building, removing filing cabinets, binders, PCs, a fax machine and sealed paper bags and boxes. One box was marked “posters of Iraq” in black marker.
The documents were seized under a warrant obtained by the FBI and other federal, state, and local agencies under the authority of the Office of Foreign Asset Control.
“The warrant is being executed pursuant to an ongoing federal investigation,” Lanza said. “It’s a federal criminal investigation and the affidavit in support of the warrant is sealed.” Lanza would not say what agents were seeking but would only emphasize the warrant authorized a search, not arrests.
FBI agents were also searching a Columbia home, Lanza said. He wouldn’t elaborate.
Attempts to reach any of the individuals listed as directors on the agency’s 2002 tax form were unsuccessful.
Lorenzo Vidino of the Washington, D.C.-based The Investigative Project, a counter-terrorism research agency, said the Islamic American Relief Agency has been “used by the Sudanese government” to spread radical Islam, and “still is.” The agency also has provided employment and financial support to Somali fundamentalists, he said.
Vidino said members of the agency’s board are involved with other charities whose assets have been frozen, and some are under investigation themselves.
“We’ve been watching this charity for a long time, but we never had a smoking gun,” said Vidino. “I suppose [the government] did.”
Agents moved in and out of the building while police officers from various local, state, and inter-state agencies provided security around the scene Wednesday.
Jeff Westbrook, of the Columbia Police Department, said he arrived at the scene around 2 p.m.
“We’re basically providing security,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on inside.”
Officers with the Federal Air Marshals, the U.S. Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Postal Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were also involved. The Mobile Response Unit of the Columbia Police Department and one other large police vehicle were used as temporary operation bases while police cars closed off all entrances, including shutting off access to the Walgreens drive -through pharmacy window.
Lanza would not comment on whether the search was connected to the January request by the Senate Finance Committee to turn over IRS files on the Islamic American Relief Agency.
Ninth District Rep. Kenny Hulshof, who had asked the FBI to divulge any information it had about terrorism cells in Columbia before Sept. 11, 2001, said he was not given advance notice of Wednesday’s raid.
"There hasn't been any information exchanged between then and today and that's what's troubling--this was out of the blue," Hulshof said.
Hulshof said he would contact FBI officials today to find out what motivated them to act Wednesday.
Bernell Dorrough, Kate Moser, Jennifer Oladipo, Mike Burden, Robbie Ketcham, Heather Olson, Nadia Afifi and the Associated Press contributed to this report
I don't know. I heard they started moving in over the past 10-12 years. They buy land, buildings, etc. They hold down great jobs. Could be your neighbor next door. Wear suits. Have kids. The perfect family.
And what goes on behind closed doors is something we will not find out until it's too late. They have a right to their privacy as well. But what are they planning for America? I fear they will be working from the inside to take over our lives and our land.
Something to think about........but little we can do about it.
Excellent handle my friend. Bush/cheney 2004 Let's Roll!!
The enemy within...
Exactly. They came like the thief in the night, didn't they.
Bug the mosques for starters.
RIGHT ON!!
Yea! Good luck. heh! That would take a lot of infiltration. And who is better at it then they?
Links to articles from today's paper:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=9961 -- FBI continues search for data 10-15-2004
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=9964 -- Muslims fear raid will mean scrutiny 10-15-2004
“My wife and daughter were spit at on the street,” Ali said. “They were targets because they wore veils.”
Thanks for the links. But their Islam brothers have given them a very bad name. The backwoodsmen, the militia and the Iron Workers aren't going to take it anymore. I'm sorry the good ones are getting spat on, but after 9-11, what are they to expect. It's very hard to trust anyone of that nature in this day and age.
Coptic Christians and Sephardic Jews who are well versed on jihadist culture, having lived under their yoke of oppression. They could place some of the surveillance equipment.
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