Somali merchant targeted in USDA probe

The Tennessean ^ | 05/10/02 | Anita Wadhwani

[JDGreen123]

Accusations of food stamp fraud are the latest in a series of troubles to beset Nashville-area Somali immigrants since Sept. 11.

The owner of Ramadan International Market

[JDGreen123]

Mmmmm... An entire mouth-watering goat. Funny how our laws are always against the other guy's "cultural norms." Not only are these folks cheering when we die they are also taking our tax dollars while we are alive.

[sarcasm]

Hmmmmmmm

[Dog Gone]

Maybe they all should head back to Somalia where their life will be ever so much better.

[HassanBenSobar]

This is a very typical food-stamp fraud scheme. Someone sets up a phony grocery or convenience store that accepts food stamps. Then, they purchase the stamps from customers at less than face value (say, 40%). The customers use the cash for cigs or booze or whatever. The store redeems the stamps at full value from the gubmint. The gubmint chases down one fly-by-night store after another, as they open, shut down, disappear and re-open a lot faster than investigators can catch up.

[3AngelaD]

Why are these towel-heads (who massacred our soldiers and drug their dead bodies through the streets of their flea-bitten capital) in this country, receiving food stamps? And then they commit fraud with them? Talk about no good deed going unpunished. And I'm paying taxes for this? The solution to this is to send them back to their beloved homeland/culture. I would be happy to contribute my tax dollars to provide them and their nits with one-way tickets home. Note how they identify the reporter.

[patton]

Frankly, I think that the way this was handled is stupid. It would have been a simple thing to moniter the store for a couple of days, and determine if the person who just made a big-dollar transaction actually walked out with a goat.

If yes, no case.

If no, everybody goes to jail.

Instead, we have, again, a heavy-handed government putting somebody out of business on "suspicion."

Idiotic.

[thatsnotnice]

And most come solely for the specially prepared ''halal'' meat and buy a whole goat or lamb —

People are weird. I had a friend that hauled kosher swinging beef from Chicago to Los Angeles. He said after leaving the dock you drove out to a house in the sticks where a Rabbi said something from the doorway of his house while you sprayed the trailer with a garden hose. Bing - all of a sudden it was kosher.

I don’t know exactly what that means, but the guy said that other than the praying/spraying side trip, it was the exact same beef that anyone else in the world gets… not that it has anything to do with your article…

[JDGreen123]

Good points. "Diversity reporter". I am surprised that she mentioned any possible wrong doing. I have seen several other comments from FReepers about Somalians in their cities. Is anyone left over there?

I understand that the Somalians in the North are pretty good folks and want to seceed from the terrorists in the South. From what I read, the Northerners were British subjects while the Southerners were Italian subjects during the reign of Mussolini. I guess political heritage shows through even years later.

[atafak]

More than 90% of his business is from customers using an ''electronic benefit transfer'' card. Such cards are issued by the government in place of paper food stamps, an innovation that enables the government to track purchases.

why are we importing somalis to go on public assistance here??...send them back to somalia where they can get all their beloved goat meat from the local muslim charity house...

[Random Access]

I wonder if Somalis will be eligible for reparations.

[Brownie74]

I don't understand all I know about this. A person could go into a store and buy $102.36 worth or groceries and put $100.00 on the card (just to keep the dollar amount even) and pay $2.36 in cash. That could account for the large even dollar purchase.

Such cards are issued by the government in place of paper food stamps, an innovation that enables the government to track purchases.

That's bottom line right there. Big brother wants your goat.

Oh well - no goat smoking for another weekend.