Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas.
Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust in connection with a trial planned in Texas next month for five officials of a defunct charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
While the foundation was charged in the case, which was filed in 2004, none of the other groups was. However, the co-conspirator designation could be a blow to the credibility of the national Islamic organizations, which often work hand-in-hand with government officials engaged in outreach to the Muslim community.
A court filing by the government last week listed the three prominent groups among about 300 individuals or entities named as co-conspirators. The document gave scant details, but prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." The government listed the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood."
The secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America, Muneer Fareed, said his group was surprised to be named in the Texas case. "I can tell you categorically that the current administration of ISNA, as well as its stakeholders, they have no connection to my knowledge with any Holy Land foundations," he said.
Mr. Fareed denied his group has any ties to Hamas, though he said it is difficult to police all 300 mosques under his umbrella. "We might have a kid whose dad was president of Hamas for all I know," he said. "How do you verify these things?"
Excerpted
http://www.nysun.com/article/55778
MIAMI -- A man is facing charges after allegedly trying to bring a loaded gun onto a plane at Miami International Airport. Police said Henry Clay Woods Jr. checked two pieces of luggage while trying to board a flight from Miami to San Pedro Sula, Honduras Friday.
During a route X-ray, Transportation Security Administration officials noticed something suspicious in Woods' bag, according to police. Investigators said it was a loaded Smith and Wesson revolver hidden in a box of laundry detergent. The revolver and a box of .38 ammunition, which was also located inside the suitcase, had been wrapped in aluminum foil.
Officials also confirmed that six rounds of the ammunition were missing from the box and that the number matched the number of bullets that were in the cylinder of the revolver.
http://www.local10.com/news/13440076/detail.html
NWFP courts under bombing threat (Pakistan)
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
PESHAWAR: Threats to blow up courts of law in the NWFP continue to pour in as the registrar of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and a senior civil judge received anonymous letters on Saturday that suicide bombers would target the Peshawar Judicial Complex on Monday.
Excerpted
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C06%5C05%5Cstory_5-6-2007_pg1_5
Material seized by Lucknow police not uranium (India)
June 3, 2007
MUMBAI: The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has found that the material seized by the Lucknow police recently from four carriers is not uranium.
AERB Secretary Om Pal Singh, in a press note here on Saturday, said the Board had sent two experts to Lucknow with necessary instruments and they found prima facie that it was not the fissionable material. However, the substance would be tested at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) here to determine its chemical composition, Dr. Singh said.
The Lucknow police last Thursday seized 700 gm of the material suspected to be uranium and arrested four carriers, Sugreev Gupta, Bharat Bhushan, Devanand Pandey and Rajiv Mishra, all from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow Superintendent of Police B.P. Jogdand had said at a press conference that the police conducted all possible tests and ascertained that the material was certainly uranium but asserted that the finding of the BARC would be final.
Before arresting the carriers, the police had trailed them for several days. The police arrested them posing as interested buyers and a special cell constable, who spoke Russian, posed as an Indian nuclear researcher based in Moscow.
A sample was obtained by "striking a deal for Rs. 30 lakh," Mr. Jogdand had said. The carriers were later arrested with the entire load. They told the police that the `uranium' was received from an international smuggler, Jagdish alias Jaggu.