CA: 12 arrested in counter-terrorism and drug-trafficking investigation

The Los Angeles Times ^ | November 7, 2007 | Greg Krikorian, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More indictments are expected in the probe, which has centered on L.A.'s garment district.

A dozen people were arrested Tuesday on charges of narcotics trafficking, money laundering and selling counterfeit goods after a two-year counter-terrorism and drug investigation centered in Los Angeles' downtown garment district.

The focus of the federal investigation was Ali Khalil Elreda, 32, who was detained at Los Angeles International Airport last year, accused of trying to smuggle $120,000 in money orders and cashier's checks, hidden in a child's toy, to Lebanon, according to an indictment and an affidavit filed in the case.

In 2005, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department official showed a Senate committee a picture of a tattooed shop owner who had been arrested the year before on charges of selling counterfeit high-fashion merchandise. The tattoo was a symbol of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrillas operating in Lebanon.

In his testimony, Lt. John Stedman, a top supervisor in the department's emergency operations bureau, did not identify the shop owner. Stedman was not involved in the most recent investigation.

But two law enforcement sources said Tuesday that the merchant was Elreda.

Elreda and Hussein Saleh Saleh, 37, both of Bell, were charged in one of two indictments returned in the case with conspiring to smuggle cash out of the United States.

Five years ago, in an interview with The Times, Asa Hutchinson, then the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said authorities were examining dozens of domestic drug cases with potential links to Islamic terrorists, including a methamphetamine ring allegedly tied to Hezbollah.

During the recent Los Angeles investigation, law enforcement authorities allegedly seized 30 kilograms of cocaine and counterfeit clothing worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[Cindy]

Thank you for the ping Ernest_at_the_Beach.

#

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919875/posts?page=403#403

http://truthusa.com/a/index.php?topic=1051.0

[Brad’s Gramma]

Well, we DO have a strike going on you know...and a girl can ALWAYS use an extra dime.....

Go to bed, B4. ;) :)

[farlander]

Fantastic! We got ourselves a fund-raising cell. Now that’s something to write home about - those quiet bloodsuckers are hard to track down.

[Marine_Uncle]

Their crawling through the weeds. And the many home grown converts are probably more sinister. They appear to be just good old fashion Americans. And the mosques just continue to be built.

[VanShuyten]

Perhaps it was mentioned in the article, but which groups are working with these terrorists to supply them with the drugs? Nobody wants to talk about the connections between the drug cartels, the Mexican/US governments’ border policies, and these US-based terrorists.

[Republicus2001]

but instead of focusing on protecting the citizens, the LA City Council chooses to snort coke, chase girls other than wives, and give money away to a “firefighter” who was traumatized by dog food in his pasta sauce...