Oh sure. Let's deport him. So he can reenter the country later and promptly drop out of sight. What? You think this can't happen? Let me remind you that the ever viligant INS is involved here. Now you get my point?
Posted on 03/27/2002 5:37:54 PM PST by Prodigal Daughter
Posted on Wed, Mar. 27, 2002
Terror suspect to be deported
(but front page link title is "INS may deport terror suspect")
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND ELENA CABRAL
achardy@herald.com
Federal immigration officials plan to deport a young Pakistani in custody at Krome detention center on terrorism charges after FBI agents investigated him for allegedly plotting to bomb South Florida power plants -- including a Florida Power & Light facility at Port Everglades.
Patricia Mancha, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami, said her agency has placed 19-year-old Imran Mandhai of Hollywood in ''removal proceedings,'' a legal phrase meaning INS wants to deport him to his home country.
Elaine Komis, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, said Mandhai is being held on sabotage and terrorism charges contained in immigration law.
Mancha and FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela declined to discuss the case. Mandhai's Miami lawyer, Nashid Sabir, could not be reached for comment.
Federal prosecutors have not filed criminal charges. However, Aloyma Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, said ''the matter is under review'' by her office.
Mandhai's detention in mid-February does not appear connected to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Federal officials familiar with the case said Mandhai allegedly conspired with others in March and April 2001 to obtain weapons and explosives to start a holy war in South Florida.
In the spring of 2001, the officials said, an FBI source contacted the agency and claimed Mandhai was talking about starting a holy war by planting bombs at power stations and perhaps other locations.
According to the officials, the FPL plant at Port Everglades, near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, was one of the possible targets to be hit in late April 2001.
Mike Haggerty, an FPL spokesman in Miami, declined to discuss the case but did not deny his company was aware of the investigation.
''It's a police matter, and they handled it,'' Haggerty said.
MEETING IN MIRAMAR
A report in the The New York Times on Tuesday, which federal officials said was accurate, said Mandhai discussed holy war with other Arab men at a meeting in Miramar in April 2001.
Also in April 2001, the article said, Mandhai attempted to buy an AK-47 at a gun show in Fort Lauderdale but failed to complete the transaction because his credit card was declined for the $300 purchase.
Federal officials familiar with the case said agents monitored Mindhai's movements for months after learning of the alleged plot early last year. The officials said Mandhai was arrested around Feb. 14 as he returned to his home on Johnson Street in Hollywood from the Darul Uloom Islamic Institute.
Maulana Shafayat Mohamed, head of the institute at 7050 Pines Blvd. in Pembroke Pines, where Mandhai prayed, said he knew the Pakistani slightly and considered him a ``militant.''
PRAYED AT MOSQUE
Shafayat said Mandhai prayed at the institute's mosque but did not attend the school's Islamic studies program.
''He was not a member and only came in to pray, as a walk-in,'' Shafayat said. ``We heard through the grapevine that he opposed our activities and that he was one of those militants.''
Mandhai shared the apartment in Hollywood with his family. Muhammad Farooq Mandhai, the youth's father, told The Herald late Tuesday that his son had not committed any crimes.
''He's innocent, I know,'' he said as he returned home from work. ``He's a very good student, a college student. . . . Allah will help us, and what is true will come out.''
He told The New York Times that his family moved to the United States from Karachi four years ago and that his son was in his second year in computer science at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale.
Jillian Printz, BCC's director of college relations, said Mandhai had been a student at BCC but no longer was. However, Printz said she could not provide more details.
Salman Mandhai, Imran's 14-year-old brother, said Imran had also attended McArthur High School in Hollywood.
Oh sure. Let's deport him. So he can reenter the country later and promptly drop out of sight. What? You think this can't happen? Let me remind you that the ever viligant INS is involved here. Now you get my point?
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