Probe Finds Terrorists in U.S. Training for War

HOMELAND INSECURITY Probe finds terrorists in U.S. 'training for war' Neighbors of Muslim encampment fear retaliation if they report to police Posted: February 17, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern

Entrance to Hancock, N.Y., encampment (Courtesy Northeast Intelligence Network) The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the United States as training facilities, confirms a joint investigative report by an intelligence think tank and an independent reporter.

A covert visit to an encampment in the Catskill Mountains near Hancock, N.Y., called "Islamberg" found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities, said the report by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an interim report.

The neighbors interviewed said they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.

"We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."

The resident said his household gets "nothing but menacing looks from the people who go in and out of the camp, and sometimes they yell at us to mind our own business when we are just driving by."

"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.

Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."

The encampment in Hancock, N.Y., is run by a front for Jamaat ul-Fuqra called Muslims of the Americas Inc., which operates a school known as the International Quranic Open University Inc.

The facility is on 70 acres of remote land on the western edge of the Catskill Mountains, about 40 miles southeast of Binghamton, N.Y. A sign at the entrance identifies the place as "Islamberg." The other side of the sign says "International Quranic Open University" and "Muslims of the Americas Inc."

Every one of the neighboring residents interviewed expressed disappointment and additional concern that federal law enforcement is not investigating the activities, the report said.

"These people need to be investigated," a resident said. "They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops. Who in the h--- is allowing this stuff to happen right here in our own backyard, and why?"

Though primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jamaat ul-Fuqra has operational headquarters in the U.S.

The group seeks to counter "excessive Western influence on Islam" through any means necessary, publicly embracing the ideology that violence is a significant part of its quest to purify Islam. The enemies of Islam, the group says, are all non-Muslims and any Muslim who does not follow the tenets of fundamentalist Islam as detailed in the Quran.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.

According to the report, there appear to be more than two dozen "Jamaats," or private communities, loosely connected and scattered throughout the U.S. with an estimated 5,000 members.

An investigation of the group by the Colorado Attorney General's office in the early 1980s found several of the communities operate covert paramilitary training compounds, including one in a mountainous area near Buena Vista, Colo.

Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization formed in 1980 by Gilani, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.

Members have been known to go to Pakistan for paramilitary training, but the investigation found evidence the U.S. encampments offer such training so members don't need to risk traveling abroad amid increased scrutiny following the 9-11 attacks.

The report says Jamaat ul-Fuqra members have "purchased isolated rural properties in North America to live as a community, practice their faith, and insulate themselves from Western culture. The group has established rural encampments that U.S. authorities allege are linked to murder, bombings and other felonies throughout North America."

U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked directly to Hamas and Hezbollah. Throughout the 1980s, JF was responsible for a number of terrorist acts across the United States, including numerous fire-bombings.

Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Intelligence sources have determined Pearl was attempting to meet with Gilani in the days before he disappeared in Karachi. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra and Richard Reid, the infamous "shoe bomber" who attempted to ignite explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.

Douglas J. Hagmann, director of the Northeast Intelligence Network and multi-state licensed private investigator, and others conducted their covert field investigation Feb. 8 and 9 at the Hancock encampment connected to the terrorist group.

Primary access to the compound is an unmarked road – labeled on county and state maps as "Moslem Road"

Two structures with capacities of up to 100 each appear to be used for religious training, education and meeting purposes, according to local sources. Investigators found a weapons firing range that is not visible from the road or any other publicly accessible vantage position. It appeared to have been recently used.

Near the eastern perimeter of the property – on a hillside – appears to be a military-style training area, including ropes hung from tree limbs, an obstacle course, wooden fences for scaling and other items and structures one would expect to find in a "boot-camp" setting. The area also appeared to have been used recently.

The report noted the property is near the Cannonsville Reservoir and Watershed Area, one of several water supply sources servicing New York City and adjacent areas.

The investigators noted men appeared to be designated to provide security for the compound, with some posted at guard shacks.

"Although no activity of extreme significance was observed (the presence of armed sentries guarding the perimeter of the compound excluded) during this period of surveillance, it was obvious that measures to insure that the activities taking place at this location were well insulated from public view," the report said.

Investigators interviewed six area residents, who each requested anonymity for the report and found them to be consistent. The report summarized the information:

* The encampment has been in operation for at least 20 years and appears to maintain a steady level of occupancy. Each source confirmed the existence of at least one armed guard at the main entrance, especially during "special events" that result in a significant number of visitors by vehicle. The events appear to be meetings or religious services held within the compound.

* Nearly every weekend, sound of gunfire can be heard from the camp. According to one neighbor who stated he's a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, some of the weapons obviously are "automatic" and large-caliber. On at least two occasions last summer, area residents heard small explosions.

* The occupants won't allow anyone not affiliated with their organization to enter the encampment. All of the residents stated they've never observed a marked law enforcement vehicle enter the compound at any time.

* Visitors to the compound are numerous and frequent. All visitors appear to be black males operating late model vehicles, mostly SUVs, and many possess license plates from Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee.

* At least once each week, private deliveries of unknown items are made to the camp by unmarked box-style trucks. The trucks, usually at the compound for two to three hours at a time, are operated by black males or men who appear to be of Middle Eastern origin.

* Men of Middle Eastern origin appear to be "frequent guests" of the encampment, many in traditional Islamic attire. Some appear to stay at the encampment for three to four days or longer. During the visits, activity and security at the compound is heightened noticeably.

The report also says it found that a number of the residents of the compound work for the New York State Thruway, as tollbooth operators in the New York City area or are employed at a nearby center that processes credit card transactions and maintains vital confidential financial records.

The report concludes additional investigation by law enforcement authorities is required.

"The appropriate action must be taken now to insure the safety and security of the United States, or it is certain that we will be forced to deal with the consequences. …"

You are defending a very vile group which has terrorist documentation going back over a decade.

A history of this vile group up to 1993 is cited below. The Hancock Ny Group of Black Muslim Islamofascist Thugs was/is the apparent head quarters of this terror wing of the Black Muslims. Most if not all of the males over age 21 are multiple hard core felons and have no right to own guns in NY and most other states.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/782257/posts?page=15

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Al Fuqra: Holy Warriors of Terrorism
Anti-Defamation League (pdf) ^ | 1993

Posted on 11/04/2002 4:16:25 PM PST by Sabertooth

Al-Fuqra

Holy Warriors of Terrorism

Introduction

For over ten years, a secretive Black Muslim sect in the United States and Canada has sought to carry out a self-declared policy of "jihad," or holy war, by taking violent action against its perceived enemies, generally other minorities or other Muslims with whom they disagree. The sect, known as Al-Fuqra, has been linked by law enforcement officials to terrorist violence in Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, the Pacific-northwest and Canada.

Most recently, attention has been focused on the group in connection with a plot to bomb public sites in New York, including the United Nations, FBI offices at 26 Federal Plaza, and the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels. One of the fourteen men facing trial for this alleged conspiracy, which also included the World Trade Center bombing, is reportedly a member of Al-Fuqra, who is charged with training gang members and supplying them with weapons and explosives.

The bomb plot, described in a federal indictment as a plan "to levy a war of urban terrorism against the United States," also included the targeting of Jewish leaders and individuals.

Threats of terrorist violence by shadowy groups of fanatical religious extremists pose a serious challenge to public order and safety - as exemplified by the World Trade Center bombing which killed six people and injured hundreds more. This report is an effort to meet the need for increased public awareness about one such group in the hope that exposure can help prevent further violence of this nature.

Al-Fuqra

Al-Fuqra is the name of a violent Muslim extremist sect which has come under law enforcement scrutiny in the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Headed by Sheikh Mubarak Ali Jilani Hashemi (also Hasmi) in Pakistan, the majority of its members are of African-American descent. The sect is an offshoot of orthodox African-American Muslims and has no connection to the Nation of Islam led by Louis Farrakhan.

The name of the organization is taken from the Arabic term "al- fuqara," meaning "the impoverished." The sect was formed in Brooklyn in 1980, after Sheikh Jilani visited the United States for the first time. During his stay, Jilani, who is known as a mystic and as a charismatic speaker, acquired followers by preaching at a local African-American mosque described as what was then the "most influential black American mosque" in the area. He has visited the United States several times since then. Adherents of Al- Fuqra have also been active in Canada.

Over the past thirteen years, followers of the sect have visited Pakistan to receive religious indoctrination from Sheikh Jilani. Additionally, Al-Fuqra members have sent funds to Jilani regularly at his base in Lahore, Pakistan. Press reports indicate that members of the sect in the United States number between 1,000 and 3,000.

The Two Faces of Al-Fuqra

Members of the Muslim community have described the Al-Fuqra sect as an organization which espouses the Islamic concept of self-help, undertaking civic works such as fighting drug dealers, cleaning and patrolling the streets and apartment project corridors and courtyards. Other adherents of the group who lived in a remote compound at Trout Creek Pass near Buena Vista, Colorado described themselves as shepherds fleeing the difficulties of urban life who owned guns in order to protect themselves from the evils of society.

Yet the contents of a Colorado Springs storage locker owned by members of the sect which was confiscated by police in 1989 revealed a hoard of explosives, military manuals, bomb-making instructions and detailed plans of the sect's intended targets. The materiel found at the site included 30 pounds of explosives, three large pipe bombs, and ten handguns and silencers. Among the explosives were three pipe bombs "fused and ready to blow," homecooked plastic explosives, and other bomb-making components, such as electric wiring, fuses, mercury switches and timing devices.

Also seized at the storage locker were target-practice silhouettes bearing such markings as "FBI Anti-Terrorist Team" and "Zionist Pig."

Documents discovered at the site indicated that sect members planned to murder a Muslim religious leader in Tucson, Arizona and were making efforts towards carrying out attacks on Colorado- based military installations and acts of sabotage on the Colorado state power, communications and air transportation infrastructures.

The plans of the group were painstakingly recorded by sect members in the documents found in Colorado Springs. According to a description of the records in the search warrant affidavit, members of the group are "specifically instructed, by means of a written doctrine, not to dispose of records, but to maintain - in a safe place - all documentation which could expose their true purpose and plans."

Husain Abdallah, described as one of the early organizers of Al- Fuqra in the U.S., responded to recent press reports concerning the violent nature of the sect by declaring, "We do not commit acts of terrorism in this country. just because other members of a faith commit crimes does not mean that we are criminals ... The government is trying to create a blueprint to destroy us, to pull another Waco and destroy us."

Terrorism Against Religious Targets

Al-Fuqra has focused on Hindu houses of worship and places of business for its acts of violence in North America. In Pakistan, Al- Fuqra has been charged with fomenting violence over the border in the Kashmir province of India by aiding Muslim separatists there. Over the same period of time, press reports indicate that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has linked members of the sect to sixteen criminal and terrorist activities in both the United States and Canada, including the firebombings of Hindu temples in Denver, Philadelphia and Seattle in 1984 and the murder of Muslim religious leaders in Canton, Michigan in 1983 and Tucson, Arizona in 1990. Also among the group's potential targets was the Jewish Community Center of Denver.

Al-Fuqra continues to be under investigation in Arizona for the 1990 murder of Imam Rashid Khalifa, the leader of a Tucson mosque. In Canada, the sect has been linked by investigators to the 1991 bombings of property owned by Hindus in Toronto.

"Soldiers of Allah"

Reflecting the doctrines of the organization, members of Al-Fuqra cells refer to themselves as "Soldiers of Allah." In previous years they called themselves "Muhammad Commandos." The organization is structured into cells, each of which is assigned a geographic location in which to operate. Al-Fuqra is believed to have at least five cells, since the Colorado cell's members were allegedly designated as "Muhammad Commandos Sector 5."

In order to preserve the organization's overall structure, contact between members of a cell is never made directly. This ensures that members of the cell will not know the true identity or a physical description of another member. Cell members further obscure their identities by contacting other cell members via pay telephones at pre-determined times. The use of these methods has led law enforcement officials to describe Al-Fuqra as operating according to the principles of "classically structured terrorist cells."

Documents belonging to the sect in Colorado revealed that the organization was doing surveillance on even more ambitious possible targets, for the purpose of designing an attack to culminate in a major disaster. Among them were the route lines and control stations for the Colorado state petroleum, gas, electric and hydroelectric systems. In addition to this, a member of the group was requested to provide information on National Guard armories, U.S. military installations, police stations, communications control sites, and airports.

Centers of Al-Fuqra activity are spread across the United States. Certain criminal activities in Brooklyn (NY), Baltimore (MD), Philadelphia (PA), Tucson (AZ), Portland (OR) and Denver, Colorado Springs, and Buena Vista (CO) are being investigated for possible links to the sect by law enforcement authorities. Of particular interest are the Al-Fuqra compounds located in remote areas of the United States. In October of 1992 the Colorado State Police raided the 101-acre Al-Fuqra compound near Buena Vista and discovered a cache of weapons including Soviet manufactured AK-47 assault rifles, as well as American- made M-16 and M-14 rifles.

The headquarters of the organization is believed to be in Hancock, New York, along with what is regarded as the most important of the sect's compounds which is located near Deposit, New York in the Catskill Mountains. Two other compounds are located in South Carolina and the California desert. Press reports indicate that Sheikh Jilani took part in the purchase of Al-Fuqra's Colorado and New York compounds.

Turning Point: The Jihad Council for North America

The earliest attacks by members of Al-Fuqra have been traced to 1979; however, the group's well-orchestrated attacks on its perceived enemies commenced in 1983, the same year that the group initiated its Jihad [Holy War] Council for North America in Toronto. Al-Fuqra was estimated at that time to consist of three cells.

In contrast to the activities of other terrorist organizations, Al-Fuqra has never claimed responsibility for the acts of violence linked to its members. The existence of the group came to light in 1983, when police arrested Stephen Paster, an Al-Fuqra member who was later convicted for the bombing of a Portland, Oregon hotel owned by the Bagwan Shree Rajneesh, an Indian guru.

Materiel found at Paster's home included components for the construction of pipe bombs and what was described by investigators as an "urban warfare handbook." Paster subsequently jumped bail and was re-arrested on June 26, 1985. A search of his home at that time revealed a cache of several handguns, a semi-automatic pistol that looked like a submachine gun, written documents describing the construction of electronic bombing mechanisms, and a number of passports under a variety of aliases. Arms found in his car included a "zip gun" with a bore "large enough to hold a shotgun shell" together with a device for using it as part of a booby trap.

The growing sophistication of the methods and weapons used by Paster mirrors the development of Al-Fuqra from a loosely-knit organization whose adherents carried out bombing attacks on religious institutions to a North American network of organized cells whose members advanced to commit acts of fraud and target individuals for murder.

"Everyone Who Comes Must Be Eliminated. . ."

Evidence of the existence of a larger network of the organization only became apparent in 1989, after the Colorado Springs storage locker with its hoard of Al-Fuqra documents and weapons was discovered.

One of the documents found by the Colorado Springs police consisted of a detailed three-page plan to murder Sheikh Rashid Khalifa of the Islamic Center in Tucson, Arizona. Together with the plan were surveillance photographs of the mosque. On the assumption that there might be police patrols or other people at the mosque, the plan recommended that the "dispatching [of) the subject[s]" should be done "in the quietest method possible: knife, garrotte . . . "

The plan went on to anticipate that Sheikh Khalifa "may not be there" at the time that the Al-Fuqra members expected, and therefore recommended that "[a]s we wait, everyone who comes must be eliminated until he shows up." Khalifa was stabbed to death on January 31, 1990. As of yet, no arrests have been made, although two Al-Fuqra members in Colorado who were arrested on fraud charges are also suspected of having been a part of the plot to murder Khalifa.

Members of the sect allegedly funded their activities by illegally collecting and cashing 276 checks totalling $355,000 from a Colorado state insurance fund that paid workers' compensation claims. Dummy corporations with names such as "McClean Carpenters" and "Professional Security International" were used in order to receive the checks from the insurance fund, and the checks were sent to post office boxes.

Four members of the sect were arrested in Colorado and Pennsylvania on charges of racketeering and forgery in October of 1992. Edward Ivan McGhee, James L. Upshur, James D. Williams, all of Colorado, were arrested after law enforcement authorities raided their homes and the Al-Fuqra compound. Williams was separately charged with conspiracy to commit murder for his involvement in the 1984 bombing of a Hare Krishna temple in Denver and Imam Khalifa's murder in Arizona. Vicente Rafael Pierre was sentenced to four years of probation in July of 1993 for his part in defrauding the the Colorado workers' state compensation fund, and was permitted to return to his home in Pennsylvania. In reviewing Pierre's role as part of the sect, the sentencing judge described Pierre's role in defrauding the fund as minor, and further pointed out that Pierre had not taken part in the actual terrorist attacks.

Part of the funds collected by the sect were believed to have been used for the purchase of an isolated 101-acre farm compound near Buena Vista, Colorado where the sect members' families resided. To date, less than $20,000 of the stolen funds have been accounted for,which has led law enforcement authorities to believe that they may have been sent to Pakistan. Documents from the Colorado Springs storage locker that were discovered in 1989 indicate that this may well be the case, since members of the sect are described as being required to regularly donate a percentage of their income to Al-Fuqra's headquarters in Lahore, Pakistan. New documents discovered at the group's compound near Buena Vista, Colorado in October of 1992 formed the basis for the filing of new charges against Colorado Al-Fuqra members James Williams and Edward Flinton in February of 1993. The two men, who were previously charged with violations of organized crime laws were additionally charged with conspiracy to murder Imam Rashid Khalifa. The documents showed that Williams and Flinton had been involved in the planning of the murder, but those who actually carried it out have yet to be found.

Ties to the Afghani Mujahideen'

Throughout the last decade, Sheikh Jilani promoted the cause of the Afghani mujahideen' ('Those who fight the Jihad, or holy war) to American members of the Al-Fuqra sect. Corresponding to similar efforts throughout the Muslim world during the 1980's, some American members of the group travelled to the Sudan for military training in order to join the Afghanis in what was advanced as a "holy war" against the Soviets.

Most recently, Clement Rodney Hampton-El, an African-American allegedly connected to the averted attempt to bomb four major New York City locations, has been described as "having worked closely" with the Al-Fuqra sect. Hampton-El, who is also known as Abd al Rashid Abdallah, or "Dr. Rashid," is also alleged to have been a part of the World Trade Center bombing by assisting in the testing of explosives.

During the Afghan war, Hampton-El was recruited as a member of Gulbuddin Hikmatyar's Hizb al-Islami (also Hizb-I-Islami) - "Islamic Party" - to fight in Afghanistan. Hikmatyar is known as one of the most vehement opponents of secular regimes - including that of the United States - and it was his group which received the lion's share of aid from the United States via Pakistan in the 1980's. According to press accounts, the Afghan war's foreign volunteers kept to themselves by establishing camps separate from those of the Afghan troops. The volunteers acquired the reputation of being "zealous troops" who did not avoid "fierce combat," and were also known to have the policy of not taking any prisoners. Anthony Hyman, an expert on Afghanistan, described the mujahideen as having "gained the reputation as some of the most brutal fighters in the war, and they deserved it. They kept themselves apart from the Afghans and were disliked for it. They regarded themselves as superior."

After he was wounded as a combatant in the Afghan war in November of 1988, Hampton-El returned to the United States in order to recuperate. Robert Dannin, an anthropologist who visited him at Long Island College Hospital, described Hampton-El as having expressed the desire to go back to Afghanistan so that he could have "another chance at martyrdom and Paradise."

Fighting Drug Dealers and Jihad

Clement Rodney Hampton-El was well-regarded in his Brooklyn neighborhood and known by his Muslim name as "Dr. Rashid." As a neighborhood activist, he served as the leader of his Flatbush- area apartment project, where he "offered medical advice and fought the drug dealers." Expressing skepticism in the New York Police Department's competence in combating crime, he spoke of patrolling the streets of his neighborhood in his "Ninja outfit" to pursue crack dealers and to prevent children from being killed in local drug wars. In consonance with this philosophy, Hampton-El regularly traveled as part of a group of other African-American Muslims to a camp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to practice combat training and target shooting.

At one point in the interview, Hampton-El expounded upon his intense frustration with racial injustice by alluding to vigilantism: "Before I left on jihad [to Afghanistan] I had a super bad temper. For example, when the Howard Beach murder happened I wanted to take care of business." Hampton-El described himself after his stint in Afghanistan as "having calmed down considerably." With regard to his service for the cause of Afghanistan, Hampton- El told Dannin, "Many people have come here to see who this Rambo is after all. I tell them it's something they will have to decide in their own mind." According to Dannin, Hampton-El's desire to return to the fighting in Afghanistan was fueled by his fear of "what he might do here if he saw injustice and racism."

Hampton-El was released from the hospital shortly after he was interviewed. Several months later, Hampton-El expressed his intolerance of divergent interpretations of the Qur'an (Koran) by participating in a demonstration which decried the publication of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. At the time of the book's publication in early 1989, many Muslims denounced Rushdie's work as sacrilege, but the most extreme reaction of all was that of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa, or edict, sanctioning Rushdie's murder together with a reward for any Muslim who would carry it out. The fatwa is still in force today, and Salman Rushdie continues to live in hiding in Britain.

On August 3, several weeks after Hampton-El was arrested, a gang of ten gun and explosives dealers was arrested in New York by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) for selling weapons illegally. The dealers, who are African-American Muslims, claimed inspiration from Sheikh Umar Abd al-Rahman, and allegedly attempted to obtain explosives in the form of pipe bombs from "a friend" of "Rashid" (Hampton-El). One of them reportedly told a BATF undercover agent that with "Rashid's" arrest, the group could no longer procure pipe bombs.

The crucial link to the explosives, however, appears to be Hampton-El. It was he, according to the leader of the New York landmarks bomb plot, Siddig Ibrahim Siddig Ali, who had promised to provide that group with two hand grenades in order to detonate the explosive compound that was being prepared for use against the United Nations, the FBI's New York headquarters and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.

Conclusion

Prior to the World Trade Center bombing and the New York landmarks bomb plot, for which Al-Fuqra members have come under law enforcement scrutiny, the sect had already demonstrated its ability to carry out terrorist attacks on religious institutions and figures. The fact that the sect never took public responsibility for any of its attacks made the tracing of such activity to its cell members difficult.

The military and "self-defense" skills which members of the Al- Fuqra sect acquired in Afghanistan with the apparent acquiescence of the U.S. government seem to have been brought home by self-styled civic activists to be used in the service of domestic terrorist acts.

The extreme nature of the Al-Fuqra sect's actions is reflected in the fact that the group has apparently been willing to attack even fellow Muslims. Through their violence, the sect's followers also have trampled upon the rights of other religious minorities. From the sect's point of view, none of its victims or intended targets - whether Muslim, Hindu or Jewish - is innocent.

The Al-Fuqra sect's actions, as detailed in this report, place them outside the accepted limits of religious tolerance in a democratic society. As David Bowers, an undersheriff of Chaffee County in Colorado who has tracked the sect, stated in a New York Newsday interview: "The Fuqra definitely illustrates that they advocate purification of their religion [Islam] by force of violence."

According to an FBI report, the sect has a list of "enemies" which include: the U.S. Government, Israel, Hindus, Hare Krishnas, the Jewish Defense League, and the Nation of Islam. Because the sect has struck so violently against its perceived enemies, it is essential that law enforcement remain alert to its activities - and that the public be informed about the dangers that they pose.

Reported Incidents Linked to Al-Fuqra

August 31, 1979:
San Diego, California - Attack at a Hare Krishna temple.

November 21 1979:
Queens, New York - Attack on an Iranian (Shi'ite) mosque.

September 1 1982:
Tempe, Arizona - Attack on the Islamic Cultural Center.

July, 1983:
Portland, Oregon - A hotel owned by the Baghwan Shree Rajneesh, an Indian guru, was firebombed by a member of Al-Fuqra. Three pipe bombs were placed in a room on the fourth floor of the hotel by Stephen Paster, who is said to be one of the organizers of Al-Fuqra in the United States.

August 8, 1983:
Canton, Michigan - A leader of the Muslim Ahmadiyya sect, Dr. Mozaffar Ahmad, is shot to death. The Ahmadiyya Center of Detroit is set on fire shortly afterward. William Cain, an Al-Fuqra follower from Akron, Ohio was identified as Ahmad's murderer. Both he and an accomplice, Calvin Jones were killed in the fire.

June 16, 1984:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The Hare Krishna Temple of Philadelphia is firebombed.

June 17, 1984:
Seattle, Washington - The Integral Yoga Society, a Hindu religious institution, and the Vendanta Society, a Sikh religious institution, are bombed. Stephen Paster of Englewood, Colorado was later arrested in connection to the bombing. After searching his car, police found a .12 gauge firing device and a "shopping list" of the materials required to build a radio-controlled explosive device.

June-July, 1984:
Kansas City, Missouri - A defective bomb is found at the Vedanta Society.

August 1, 1984:
Seattle, Washington - A member of the Seattle Vedanta Society, John Liczwinko, is attacked.

August 1, 1984: Denver - A Hare Krishna temple is firebombed, causing $150,000 in damage. James Williams and Edward Hinton, two members of the Al-Fuqra sect, were charged with conspiracy- to commit murder in March of 1993 in relation to the incident.

August 1, 1984:
Overland Park, Kansas - Srinivasu Dasari, a Hindu physician, is kidnapped and presumed dead.

August 1, 1984:
Tacoma, Washington - Three East Indians are shot to death in a suburb of that city.

February 1, 1985:
Leetsdale, Colorado - Fire breaks out at a power station.

June 22, 1985:
Houston, Texas - Attack on a local mosque.

June 26, 1985:
Englewood, Colorado - A member of Al-Fuqra named Stephen Paster is arrested for the second time after having jumped bail subsequent to his arrest in 1983 for allegedly bombing the Rajneeesh Hotel in Portland, Oregon. He was arrested on charges of arson, "type-2 bombings, possession of a type-2 bombing device, and flight from prosecution." Paster was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison in Oregon.

July 5, 1985:
Rockford, Illinois - Attack on the Vat Thothikalam Lao.

December 1, 1985:
Rockford Illinois - Attack on a Laotian temple.

May 28, 1986:
Bethany, West Virginia - Attack on Randall Gorby, who is linked to the Hare Krishna temple in Philadelphia.

September 17, 1988:
Augusta, Georgia - A doctor is shot to death in front of Humana Hospital.

September 16, 1989:
Colorado Springs - Law enforcement officials discover a cache of bombs and ammunition in a storage locker. Among the items found were an assault rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, a "bag full" of revolvers, a footlocker "filled to the top" with ammunition," a crate of black powder, three pipe bombs "fused and ready to blow," homemade hand grenades and mines, home- cooked plastic explosive, bags of electric wiring, fuses, mercury switches and timing devices. Also found in the storage locker were "Fuqra-type" documents and photographs of the Jewish Community Center and the Hare Krishna Temple in Denver.

January 31, 1990:
Tucson, Arizona: Imam Rashid Khalifa, leader of an area mosque is allegedly stabbed to death by members of the al-Fuqra sect. In February of 1993, conspiracy charges are filed against Edward Flinton and James Williams of Colorado for allegedly having plotted the murder. The actual perpetrators of the murder have yet to be found.

March 30, 1990:
Quincy, Massachusetts - Attack on the Islamic Center of Quincy.

December 31, 1990:
Colorado - Five members of Al-Fuqra are reported to have illegally collected and cashed $355,000 in checks from a Colorado state workers' compensation insurance fund. Four of them, Vicente Rafael Pierre, James Williams, James Upshur, and Edward (Flinton) McGhee were arrested in October of 1992. A fifth member, James Childs,is still at large.

January 11, 1991:
San Diego, California - Attack on the Islamic Cultural Center of San Diego.

October, 1991 :
Toronto, Canada and Brooklyn, New York - Five members of Al-Fuqra are arrested at Niagara Falls at the Canadian border and charged with conspiracy to commit murder by plotting to bomb a Hindu temple and an Indian theater in Toronto. Two of the arrested men, Khidr Ali and Glenn Neville Ford are from Toronto, Canada and Caba Jose Harris, Robert Junior Wesley and Tyron Junior Cole are from Texas. Among the documents in the possession of the men were "detailed aerial photographs and floor plans of the two sites," and included assignments for a "recon team," a "hit team" and a "guard team." One part of the overall plan was to enter one of the buildings through a men's restroom window, and another part of the plan suggested that a woman member of the group should plant a bomb in the women's restroom of the building. Videotapes of the interiors of the buildings were also found in the possession of the men.

In Brooklyn, the FBI and local police discovered weapons in an apartment inhabited by an alleged leader of the group, Wilfred Savary, a.k.a. Mustafa Muhammad Abd al-Rashid - "Abdu Rashid." Savary was the owner of the Chevy Suburban that the five men were using to cross the Canadian border into the United States. Nine loaded semi-automatic assault weapons and a "large quantity" of ammunition was found in Savary's apartment, the most notable of which was a rifle with a scope. In October of 1993, the trial of the five alleged Al-Fuqra members began in Saint Catharines in Ontario, Canada amid heavy security.

October 8, 1992:
Al-Fuqra Compound, near Buena Vista, Colorado - An arsenal of attack weapons is discovered in a search of a remote compound run by members of the Al-Fuqra sect. Hidden in an old mine shaft were 30 semi-automatic weapons and "several thousand rounds of ammunition" discovered by law enforcement officials in a raid on the compound. The assault weapons included AK-47, M-16 and M-14 rifles. Four members of the sect were arrested on fraud charges: Edward Ivan McGhee, James L. Upshur, James D. Williams, and Vicente Rafael Pierre. A fifth member, Chris Childs, is still at large. Documents discovered at the compound revealed the group's intended targets in Denver, Tucson, and Los Angeles. Thirty members of the Al-Fuqra sect were at the compound at the time of the raid - one man, "three or four women," and the rest children.

February, 1993:
Pennsylvania - FBI officials search for weapons at a shooting range suspected of being used by Al-Fuqra members. Two Al-Fuqra members from Colorado were arrested in 1992 near the site.

June 24, 1993:
New York - Eight men are arrested in connection with a plot to bomb four sites in New York City, including the United Nations, FBI headquarters, and the Holland and Lincoln tunnels. Among those arrested is Clement Rodney Hampton-El (a.k.a. "Rashid" or "Dr. Rashid"), who is reported to be a member of Al- Fuqra.

August 3, 1993:
New York - A gang of ten gun and explosives dealers are arrested in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island for allegedly selling illegal weapons. The gang was led by a group of African-American Muslims who claimed inspiration from Sheikh'Umar Abd al Rahman. A member of the group, a private security guard named Lamont Holder (a.k.a. Masoud Shaheed) reportedly offered to obtain pipe bombs from a person he described as "a friend of 'Rashid"' (i.e., Clement Rodney Hampton- El). After Hampton-El's arrest in June, Holder lost hope of obtaining the pipe bombs, saying that "Rashid's" arrest cancelled the possibility of securing them.

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