FBI: American Among Escapees From Yemen (allegedly trained w/"Lackawanna Six")

AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/10/06 | Carolyn Thompson -ap

[NormsRevenge]

BUFFALO, N.Y. - An American wanted for allegedly training with the "Lackawanna Six" at an al-Qaida camp was among the 23 men who tunneled out of a Yemeni prison last week, the FBI confirmed Friday.

Authorities earlier said they believed Jaber Elbaneh, 39, was probably among the escapees, but were not certain because of conflicting information, including a posting by the international police organization Interpol that pictured Elbaneh but described someone else.

Elbaneh is charged in Buffalo with providing material support to al-Qaida by attending the al-Farooq training camp run by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Six other men who attended the camp — dubbed the Lackawanna Six after the city near Buffalo where they lived — are serving sentences ranging from seven to 10 years after pleading guilty in 2003 to providing support to a terrorist organization.

Authorities believe Elbaneh surrendered to Yemen authorities in December 2003. The United States had asked Yemen to hand him over, but had not received an official response.

Interpol has said those who escaped last Saturday also included Jamal al-Badawi — convicted of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 sailors in a Yemeni port in 2000.

[NormsRevenge]

In this photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Jaber A. Elbaneh, 39, of Lackawanna, N.Y., is shown in these two photos released by the FBI on Wednesday, May 21, 2003. The FBI identified the photo at left as being taken in 2000, at right in 1996. An American charged with being part of an al-Qaida terrorist cell in New York was among the 23 men who escaped from a Yemeni prison last week, an FBI official said. Elbaneh, was charged in 2002 with participating in a sleeper cell based in the Buffalo, N.Y., suburb of Lackawanna by attending an al-Qaida training camp run by Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks. The Yemeni-born Elbaneh was arrested in Yemen in 2003. (AP Photo/FBI)

[NormsRevenge]

An undated photo shows Jamal Ahmed Badawi. Yemeni authorities have intensified efforts to recapture 23 suspected Al-Qaeda militants, amid growing US criticism over their escape from a Sanaa prison, officials said.(AFP/File/Khaled Fazaa)

[jimbo123]

This was the cell who were originally thought to be handlers for a dirty bomb that was supposed to come over the border from Canada.

[piasa]

This was the cell who were originally thought to be handlers for a dirty bomb that was supposed to come over the border from Canada.

That's interesting. Check this out- two "Buffalo cell" related escapees getting away in two different countries:

JULY 10, 2005 : (BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN : OMAR AL FAROUK ESCAPES FROM PRISON-- See BUFFALO CELL, BLEEDINGHEARTATTACK, ESCAPEES) Omar al-Farouq was one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Southeast Asia until Indonesian authorities captured him in the summer of 2002 and turned him over to the United States. A Pentagon official in Washington confirmed Tuesday evening that al-Farouq escaped from a U.S. detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, on July 10. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Pentagon: Top al-Qaida operative escaped ap on Yahoo ^ | 11/01/05 | Alicia A. Caldwell - ap

FEBRUARY 2006 : (YEMEN : JABER ELBANEH ESCAPES FROM PRISON -- See BUFFALO CELL, AL FAROUK TRAINING CAMP) BUFFALO, N.Y. - An American wanted for allegedly training with the "Lackawanna Six" at an al-Qaida camp was among the 23 men who tunneled out of a Yemeni prison last week, the FBI confirmed Friday. Authorities earlier said they believed Jaber Elbaneh, 39, was probably among the escapees, but were not certain because of conflicting information, including a posting by the international police organization Interpol that pictured Elbaneh but described someone else. Elbaneh is charged in Buffalo with providing material support to al-Qaida by attending the al-Farooq training camp run by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ----------FBI: American Among Escapees From Yemen (allegedly trained w/"Lackawanna Six"), AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/10/06 | Carolyn Thompson -ap

[Cindy]

Yes, that is interesting.

OPINION: Maybe someone has low friends in hight places.

Thanks for the post, piasa.

[Cindy]

sp=high places

[piasa]

2005 : (SHEIKH ABU YAHYA AL LIBBI ESCAPES FROM BAGRAM PRISON -- See OMAR AL FAROUK) New Al-Qaeda Film With Sermon by Escaped Sheikh & Footage of Children's Weapons Training – Now on Islamist Websites In an Al-Qaeda sermon marking the recent 'Id Al-Fitr holiday, Sheikh Abu Yahya Al-Libbi, who escaped Bagram prison earlier this year [1], told his audience that "America's nose will be rubbed in the mud" and "Palestine is occupied by the offspring of apes and pigs." The film was posted on Islamist websites in December 2005. TO VIEW THIS CLIP, VISIT: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=970. -------"America's nose will be rubbed in the mud. MEMRI ^ | December 22, 2005 | MEMRI Posted on 12/23/2005 6:02:50 AM PST by ConvienentCharade

[Fedora]

Thanks! It’d be interesting to know how the prisons are set up that so many seem to be escaping. I suppose guarding a POW type of prison camp is more challenging than guarding a typical US prison.

[csvset]

Update!

Yemen Says Terror Suspect Is Captured

One of the FBI's most-sought terrorism suspects has surrendered to authorities in Yemen, more than a year after tunneling out of a prison there, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy said Monday.

Jaber A. Elbaneh lived in Lackawanna, N.Y., before leaving to train at Osama bin Laden's al-Farooq training camp in Afghanistan in 2001, according to a federal indictment in Buffalo, N.Y.

Six of his traveling companions — dubbed the "Lackawanna Six" — returned to the United States and were arrested in September 2002. All are serving sentences ranging from seven to 10 years after pleading guilty in 2003 to supporting terrorists.

Elbaneh never returned to the United States, authorities believe, traveling instead to his native Yemen to live with his wife and children.

Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Elbaneh had surrendered.

"He is in our custody and this is a big break through in the case of his prison break last year," Albasha wrote in the e-mail.

The FBI could not confirm that Elbaneh was in custody.

"We certainly do hope he is caught," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Monday.

The State Department issued a reward of up to $5 million for Elbaneh's capture in September 2003. He is wanted on a 2002 charge of providing material support to a terrorist organization.

Authorities believe Elbaneh surrendered to Yemen authorities in 2003, but U.S. officials said they received no official response to their request to turn him over. Last year, Elbaneh was among the 23 men who tunneled out of a Yemeni prison, and he has been on the run since then.

[piasa]

re-ping to a thread on Yemen, the USS Cole bombers, and the Buffalo Cell full o’ Yemeni-Americans in upstate NY...

[Cindy]

Thank you for the reping piasa.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks....good memory or excellent searching.

From Afghanistan to Yemen....

[ladyjane]

What the hell are you doing with your life if you’re still tunneling out of prison at the age of 39?

[piasa]

if you’re still tunneling out of prison at the age of 39

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you grow a beard because the ewes think it's sexy...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you keep your wife in a bag so she'll stay fresh...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you think pigs are unclean, but wipe your butt with your bare left hand...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you pack your tighty whities , but not to impress the girls...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you occupy former Seminole land while complaining about the occupation of Palestine ...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you get funny looks when you select disposable knives at the hardware store...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you secretly enjoy geing frisked at airports but always get passed over in favor of a search of an Italian grandmother...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you've ever hunted down an editorial cartoonist to give him your editorial opinion in spades...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you've ever received coal in your sandal during Ramadan...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If your mom's secret recipe puff pastry has been known to explode...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If your cave is fitted with satellite TV so you can watch your home videos on CNN...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

If you've ever dove for cover when a friend asks you "What's that drone I hear?" ...

... you might be an islamic terrorist.

[piasa]

humor break ping