Indiana Man Charged With Trying To Sell Secrets To IraqString him up when we do Saddam!
Registered Pic: Saddam's Day in Court
(Joe also produces television programming on the side.)
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Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban, a 52-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested Thursday after an investigation of more than a year by the FBI and other agencies, U.S. Attorney Susan W. Brooks said.
Shaaban, also known as Shaaban Shaaban Hafed and Joe H. Brown, is suspected of going to Iraq in 2002 and making a deal to sell the names.
Brooks said Shaaban is believed to have more than 12 aliases.
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Indiana Man Charged With Trying To Sell Secrets To IraqString him up when we do Saddam!
Registered Pic: Saddam's Day in Court
4 Hour News 8 is learning more about the Greenfield man who federal authorities say was conspiring with Saddam Hussein's government against the United States.
The federal indictment against Shaaban Hafed says he went by 13 aliases. Authorities say he used fake names to get Social Security numbers, an Indiana driver’s license and a US citizenship.
"He sought to enter into a cooperation agreement where he would be paid a fee by Iraq to organize volunteers to act as human shields to protect Iraqi infrastructure during the war and finally he broadcast messages of support for the Iraqi government on Iraqi media stations that advocated support for Iraq and encouraged others to forcibly resist the United States, all of this after becoming a naturalized citizen here in the United States,” said Susan Brooks, US attorney.
Federal authorities say there's plenty of evidence against the 52-year-old truck driver. "We have charged Mr. Shaaban with violations of the foreign agent notification act as well as the national emergency economic powers act,” said Brooks.
Shabaan is being held without bond because prosecutors say he poses a serious flight risk.
In the federal indictment against him, it says that from spring 2002 to summer 2004, Shaaban communicated with the Iraqi intelligence service, which paid his travel expenses. Authorities say he often traveled from Chicago to Paris to Damascus, Syria and on to Baghdad. They also say he was trying to sell the names of 60 US intelligence agents to Iraqi intelligence and went by 13 aliases, some of which he allegedly used to get Social Security numbers an Indiana commercial drivers license and to become a US citizen. They also say he was trained by Russian intelligence when he lived in Russia.
Terrorism preparedness coordinator Peter Beering hopes the case will get people thinking more about security. "Law enforcement officials have known for a long, long time that criminals and various criminal enterprises cross through Indiana, so it's not particularly surprising, but the allegations are troubling,” said Beering.
William Dazey, the federal defender representing Shaaban wouldn't talk on camera, but says it's in his client's best interest that he limit his public comment.
Shaaban will make his first appearance in federal court next week.
