Posted on 11/23/2002 1:23:14 AM PST by twntaipan
At least four Seattle-area men were swept up by investigators of a multimillion-dollar auto theft ring that stretched from the Canadian border to Arizona.
An indictment announced yesterday accuses 18 people from Washington, California and Arizona of conspiring for the past nine years to steal the vehicles and forge new documents for them in Arizona.
More than 500 vehicles are believed to have been stolen, including some from the Seattle area. The total worth: more than $15 million.
Fifteen of those charged have been arrested. Three remain at large, although one has begun efforts to surrender, according to Patrick Schneider of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona.
The four Seattle men arrested were identified as Hikma Kamal Aboul-Hosn, 60, of Shoreline; Jamal Faddoul Aboul-Hosn, 58, of Shoreline; Ghassan Aboul-El-Hosn, 27, of Seattle; and Mustapha Math, 25, of Seattle.
The searches that formed the basis for the charges were conducted Sept. 10, said Cliff Chezum, an investigator with the non-profit National Insurance Crime Bureau. Chezum was brought in to identify some of the stolen vehicles found in Seattle.
The investigation into the auto-theft ring has been going on for three years, officials said, and involved several law enforcement agencies in Arizona, as well as the U.S. Customs Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Chezum said that as many as 28 detectives at a time have worked on the case. Investigators served 26 search warrants at the same time on the same day, he said.
"It was a well-executed operation," he said.
Chezum participated in two of three searches conducted in the Seattle area, identifying as stolen a Lexus taken from a Seattle resident and a Ford pickup stolen in Arizona.
The work the auto thieves did would have allowed the vehicles to pass a cursory inspection, but not a close examination, said Chezum, who has worked in vehicle theft investigations for more than 30 years.
"I've seen a heck of a lot better," he said.
Investigators said the accused would steal the vehicles in Canada and the United States and take them to Arizona. There, one of the accused would obtain phony registration and title documents for the vehicles. That suspect was an employee of the Arizona Motor Vehicle Department.
"There's a public corruption angle to this," Schneider said.
The government also accuses the group of taking vehicles from salvage yards, repairing them and altering the titles to hide the fact that the vehicles had ever been damaged. Sometimes, those involved would finance a vehicle, report it stolen and then resell it after collecting insurance money.
Some of the vehicles were smuggled to the Middle East and Europe.
Those accused face charges of conspiracy, altering vehicle IDs, transporting stolen vehicles, selling or receiving stolen vehicles, mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and filing false loan and credit applications.
The penalties for the charges range from five to 30 years in prison, with fines for some violations reaching $500,000.
"This is what can be accomplished with cooperative law enforcement," Schneider said.
Statewide, 39,077 vehicles were reported stolen last year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. In Seattle alone, 8,755 vehicles were reported stolen.
P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-448-8126 or hectorcastro@seattlepi.com
© 1998-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
BAWWWAHAHA
Here is a lengthy but important document which should be read by all!
Jihadis in the Hood
Race, Urban Islam and the War on Terror
JIHAD IN AMERICA:
| To find all articles tagged or indexed using JIHAD IN AMERICA, click below: | ||||
| click here >>> | JIHAD IN AMERICA | <<< click here | ||
| (To view all FR Bump Lists, click here) | ||||
I wonder if he also got drivers licenses for his buddies, and maybe auto tags, too...
...........................
Sakher still had his work pass in his pocket from the WTC. He was working on the sprinkler system days before 9-11. I guess the pass was a keepsake.
All these Islamists are now free but the Katherine Smith, their accomplice, is still dead.
Someone poured gasoline on Katherine and burned her alive while she was in Odtlah's car.
Did the ME ever decide if it was suicide or homicide? He was still working on the case in June when the medical examiner for Shelby County was found outside his office tied up with barbed wire and a bomb strapped to his chest.
My guess is shortly after they snipped off the barbed wire, he decided it was suicide.
Do you still have the link to the bump list?
*TN License Scandals
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/involved?group=383
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.