Posted on 05/30/2005 2:06:07 PM PDT by knighthawk
Scouted L.I. for camp - feds
The son of a former Malcolm X aide was nabbed yesterday, along with a Florida doctor, in a plot to start an Al Qaeda training camp in the U.S. - even scouting out a Long Island warehouse for a terror school, officials said last night.
Tarik Shah, 38, a self-proclaimed martial arts expert from the Bronx, and Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 50, presented themselves as a "package deal" to help Muslim "brothers" wage jihad here and in the Middle East, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley.
Kelley said Shah - son of Lieutenant X, one of Malcolm X's top aides - even bragged to an undercover FBI agent and a federal informant that he could kill with prayer beads.
Sabir, a former New York doctor who moved to Boca Raton, Fla., in 2002, vowed to treat wounded jihadists in Saudi Arabia, where he was scheduled to fly this week, officials said.
"Both swore an oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda and [Osama] Bin Laden in front of the informant and [an] FBI undercover agent posing as [an Al Qaeda] recruiter before they were nabbed this weekend," a statement released by Kelley said.
The oath left the two men with the "impression that they had become members" of Al Qaeda, the statement said.
Officials said Shah, who also went by the names Tarik Jenkins and Abu Musab, took steps to find a secret location in the New York area to house a terror training camp. "At one point, in the company of the [informant], Shah allegedly inspected a warehouse on Long Island to determine its suitability as a training facility," said the statement.
Shah and Sabir, both American citizens, were charged with conspiring to provide material support to Al Qaeda. If convicted, they each face 15 years in prison and $250,000 fines.
Both men were arrested Friday morning, Shah at his home on Grant Ave. near E. 163rd St. in the Bronx and Sabir in Boca Raton. Shah was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Federal Court tomorrow.
Sabir - who previously worked at Harlem Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center and who once operated a storefront office at a Harlem mosque - has a court date tomorrow in a federal courtroom in Florida.
His ex-wife Ingrid Doyle, 47, of Manhattan, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Sabir was born into a large Catholic family in New York and converted to Islam while in high school.
"While we were married he was a lovely father and husband and nothing if not a hardworking man," Doyle said.
Last night, as the results of the joint FBI and NYPD operation were revealed, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said it is "particularly gratifying that someone using New York City as a base for terrorist support is now in custody."
Federal agents began investigating Shah and Sabir in 2003, when the two began meeting with a confidential informant to talk about ways they could help Al Qaeda, the terrorist network responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, authorities said.
Officials said the talks were secretly recorded.
"During these conversations, Shah repeatedly indicated his desire to train Muslim 'brothers' in the martial arts in order to wage jihad and also regularly discussed his desire to find people who were willing to press the fight," Kelley's statement said.
Shah was so gung-ho about helping the terrorists that he presented to the informant a "training syllabus for hand-to-hand combat" and a videotape so that AlQaeda bosses in the Middle East could evaluate him, authorities said.
"During one meeting with the [informant] ... Shah physically demonstrated how he had fashioned his prayer beads into a weapon which could be used to strangle a person," the statement said.
Shah also was interested in getting training in "chemical stuff" and firearms, officials said.
But last night, Shah's mother, Marlene Jenkins, of Albany, blasted the charges as "ridiculous."
"He's no terrorist," Jenkins told the Sun-Sentinel.
Sabir allegedly told the informant that once he returned to Saudi Arabia, where he claimed he had worked at a Saudi military base, he would secretly treat wounded terrorists.
Sabir, who was educated at City College and Columbia University's medical school and owes $500,000 in student loans, had been set to fly to Saudi Arabia this Thursday, according to prosecutors.
When cops raided his home in a gated community, Villa of San Remo, Sabir told them, "'I know you have a job to do. I'm a doctor, and I know my rights,'" a police source said.
Sabir was well known in Harlem, where he once kept a storefront office below the Masjidus Sabur mosque on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
"He helps people," said one mosque member.
With Kerry Burke, Tamer El-Ghobashy, James Gordon Meek and Greg B. Smith
I can't understand why such a hot air balloon sank in water in the first place.
That's not Ted--balloons float in deep water.
Save some gas, deport them - to a little beyond the 12 mi limit.
"He helps people," said one mosque member.
Yeah, helps killing infidels; therefore, he is a good muslime at their local mosque and according to the ko-rap. These mosque members do not consider what this scumbag did as wrong. They're not to be trusted. Good job by the Fed's.
http://www.el-shella.com/kids/MaleArabicNames.htm
Rafiq - Kind, friend
Safir - Not!
;-)
LOL, 50% of their Jihad group were feds.
My hats off to the LEOs on this one, they were on them like a hobo on a ham sandwich. Now for the hard part as the ACLU will be on this case like flies on ……..
Thanks, I wonder why no reporter has reported that yet! Do they not have any curiosity!
Additional info on the ______pair of traitors.
Hang 'em high.
We just voted 'no' against the EU constitution!
Good for you knighthawk....
Thanks! I am glad about it!
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