Posted on 08/13/2004 4:08:23 PM PDT by 4.1O dana super trac pak
A leader of a mosque on Chicago's South Side has been ordered held on charges he trafficked a chemical used to make the illegal narcotic methamphetamine.
U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ordered that Tariq Isa, 55, remain in custody Tuesday without bail. She said Isa had an incentive to flee because a conviction would carry a lengthy prison term.
Isa was arrested Aug. 5 as he arrived at O'Hare International Airport from the Middle East, authorities said. A two-count indictment charging Isa with distributing almost 1.73 million tablets of pseudoephedrine was returned in May but was sealed until his arrest.
According to the indictment, Isa knew or had reasonable cause to believe the chemical would be used to make methamphetamine.
Isa is the third leader of the Mosque of the Martyr Izzedine Al-Qassam to face criminal charges since last year.
Ghassan Zayed Ballut and Hatem Fariz were indicted last year in Florida for allegedly financing terrorist in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They also were charged with being members of the militant group Palistinean Islamic Jihad.
Fariz also was indicted last month in Chicago on food-stamp fraud and money-laundering charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Noller said in court Tuesday that the three men have sole control over the mosque's bank account. She also said Isa had been photographed with the worldwide head of the Islamic Jihad.
Isa's attorney James Fennerty did not immediately return phone calls for comment.
Noller said in court that Isa could face 24 to 30 years in prison if convicted.
How quaint.
I heard this story mentioned on the John Batchelor Show Last night.Couldn't find it posted anywhere. All these guys are buddys with Sami al-Arian of Tampa.
Al-Qassam - is that Farsi for drugs?
L
And it be blamed on Bush when the Mosque explodes.
The link is not working. TRY:http://www.dailysouthtown.com/index/12syt.html
Ping
It is not mentioned in the article but this guy is Palistinean. A google search reveals almost no coverage of this story.
These stories always conveniently leave out the fact that "Izzedine Al-Qassam" is also the name for the military wing of Hamas. Strange that they would omit that.
Hey JP, miss this one?
No surprise here. In 1998 in the same area, (Bridgeview, IL) a Palestinian car dealer was using money from his business to fund Hamas. With the growing Arab Muslim population in the SW Chicago suburbs, the place is becoming a sleeper cell for Hamas.
The religion of peace(ophedrine) strikes again. How nice to sell meth (or precursors) to finance terrorism. Any word if they will be seizing assests of the mosque? If it's no trouble, please ping me with future developments.
From what I heard on the radio, the crackdown on "charities" is forcing the jihadist of America to turn to drug dealing.
But drug dealing is forbidden by the Quran. Surely the Islamofascists take their religion seriously :)
True. When they are used to paying no taxes on the charity money the next obvious choice is to manufacture and distribute drugs....trying and keep under the radar...
Ping to ya' Chief
The mosques are all over the place on the north side of Chicago,too. Going to O'Hare airport, you pass a mosque on Potter's Road that is filled to the brim with cabs.
Good way to make fast money to send to terrorist cells. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot more of these being run for that very purpose. My husband is an asst. d.a. in our county and these meth labs are numerous, turn a quick and easy profit and easy to relocate.
Cigarette smuggling too.
I suppose its not a stretch for Potter's Road to become Potter's Field for jihad vermin.
Some local leftist judge is trying to spring Al-Arian. Hopefully, this will have an impact.
So, I guess if no pork products were used in the manufacture of said meth, it's cool with Allah.
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