U.S. Holds Suspected Al Qaeda Trainee

Washington Post ^ | 07/20/2002 | Douglas Farah and Allan Lengel

[archy]

The Russian Mob has a lot of influence in Chechnya.

And more and more in Washington, as well.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Sure looks like a man from the North.

DampYankees! Shoulda known!

We'll be ready for 'em....

[Righty1]

How long until the rabid pro-muslim groups in AA, dearborn, and at UM start protesting to free this fly turd?

[Righty1]

Have you been paying any attention to anything that has been on this forum since 9/11? Himmler recruited a division of men that resembled this guy out of Bosnia to kill his enemies. Saudis have repeatedly scoured Checnya and Bosnia for white muslims (usually hiding behind charities). It still doesn't mean that we shouldn't take the gimmes!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

How did they know he was a trainee?

I'm not sure, but it's possible that this guy's name and picture was cross-checked with seized rosters and photos from Afghanistan. al-Qaeda abandoned a lot of computers and paperwork when their positions were hit with airstrikes, and that stuff was found later by American troops.

[flamefront]

"false cashier's checks"

Where does it say they were fraudulent?

In the other article posted -
Man arrested at airport with $12 million in phony checks, terrorism task force investigating:

The checks, labeled "cashier check," were issued by the Pomona, Calif., branch of West America Bank, according to an affidavit. A fraud investigator said there was no Pomona branch and the checks were labeled incorrectly, Clarence T. Laster, a special agent for the U.S. Secret Service, said. Several people have been arrested in the Las Vegas area for passing similar checks, Laster said in the affidavit.

Whether the MICR looked passable or not, they did not say, good point.

Since the banks had initially accepted these type of checks, no prelimiary screening seems to have invalidated the checks when the MICR codes were read upon deposit. Wow.

From the Post article:

Financial investigators said criminals deposit bogus cashier's checks in a bank account, which could give the depositor immediate access to the money before the checks have formally cleared.

Well, well. A flaw in the banking system. Looks like cashier checks are going to get harder to cash.

[flamefront]

Another example today of the weak validation process at banks corroborates the conclusion I just drew in reply #46.

Banks are vulnerable since they do not initially validate cashier's checks on deposit.

In this news report of a diffferent case -

the man's bank failed to validate the check before the transaction.

As if the the U.S. markets did not have enough problems already.

[timpad]

As if the the U.S. markets did not have enough problems already.

Yep, another layer of security will not help the banking industry right now, or the markets as a whole. The bad guys are becoming very adept at using our economic systems against us.

I hope Evil made a mistake here and this guy leads to others. But I fear that is unlikely.

[piasa]

Yeah, the hawala system doesn't require much in the way of a paper trail, and it is an enormously useful tool for anyone who wants anonymity. There was an excellent articla on FR somewhere about these kinds of transactions in New Jersey. If I can find the thing I'll post a link.

[piasa]

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates held an "International Hawala Conference" at which the U.S. FBI's Greg Bretzing reported that 4,000 suspicious reports relating to financial transactions have been filed since January 2002 by U.S. banks and financial institutions. The U.S. Customs Service's Michael Marzigliano said some $ 200 billion flows through the money transmitting industry in the U.S. annually with at least 160,000 U.S. entities involved in the business. At the conference's conclusion, the "Abu Dhabi Declaration on Hawala" was adopted, stating that "the international community should continue to work individually and collectively to regulate the hawala system for legitimate commerce and to prevent its exploitation or misuse by criminals and others." The U.S. officials stated that "many transfers were made through non-banking entities to the U.S. to the accounts of hijackers, the amounts ranging from $ 10,000 to $ 70,000 from July 2000 to September 2000."

[piasa]

Here's another incident involving a large sum of money ($2 million, don't know if it was cash or checks they were trying to deposit ):

AUGUST 22 (or 20?) , 2000 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS) Three men claiming to be Afghan nationals reported that they were dropped off in the Cayman Islands, having arrived here by ship from Turkey. The Royal Cayman Islands Police (RCIP) detained them at the Central Police Station. The Immigration authorities conducted interviews with the individuals (with the assistance of a visiting Iranian doctor who was able to translate) in an attempt to establish their identities. According to Cayman authorities, three men actually arrived in the Cayman Islands on a commercial flight from Cuba. Thay had Pakistani passports but the passports turned out to be fake, and the men were arrested in August. The men are believed to be Afghans. They were subsequently held in custody at Her Majesty's Prison at Northward, following an interview and processing by Immigration Officers. The Afghanis, who later would be become the subject of an intensive investigation by US authorities over 9/11/01 WTC attacks, were imprisoned for 10 months ( until May 2001) after trying to deposit $2 million in a bank in the Cayman Islands. (Some refugees, eh?) British authorities who arrested the three men believe that they were handling drug proceeds laundered in Havana. The men were interviewed by US agents the day after 9/11. They are currently still in the Caymans 'asking for assylum,' I believe.

[piasa]

The old check kiting schemes have one guy putting a bad check into one account, then opening a second account at a different local bank using a check written on the first. By the time the transactions go through he's already withdrawn dough from the second account. Lovely.

[Mr_Slippery]

Excellent comment, dude!!
Ask me about Martyrdom...
nice.

[NetValue]

Is there any confirmation about the rumor of TB among the muslims of Dearborn MI?

[habaes corpussel]

"At the conference's conclusion, the "Abu Dhabi Declaration on Hawala" was adopted, stating that "the international community should continue to work individually and collectively to regulate the hawala system for legitimate commerce and to prevent its exploitation or misuse by criminals and others"

This has to be the State Department. How in the wrold or even why in the world would they what to work with the Hawala System. They need to close it down. It is the source of funding for Terrorism. The Saudi's can do it overnight.

[flamefront]

Tip of the iceberg?
Found this admission from the banking industry earlier this year:

Counterfeiters are phonying up to cashier's checks
By Laura Bruce • Bankrate.com

Cashier's checks have always had a reputation for being as good as cash, but that's not a sure thing anymore. The reputation has gotten tarnished as more and more counterfeiters opt to phony-up cashier's checks and pass them off to folks like you.

"People are getting sophisticated with PCs and scanners. We're going to be seeing a lot more of this," says Marty Ramage, fraud expert with The People's Bank & Trust Company of Tupelo, Miss.

Ramage says one of his bank's cashier's checks was counterfeited a few weeks ago.

The way it works is the counterfeiter comes into the bank, gets a legitimate cashier's check and then uses a scanner to copy it on to a computer. With the help of some printing software, the counterfeit can be doctored -- payable to anyone, for any amount.

"It's put a bind on our bank on accepting cashier's checks," Ramage says. "In the past we would have taken a cashier's check from any bank across the nation without question. All banks have been accustomed to treating cashier's checks as cash. Not anymore. Everyone has to take some safeguards."

The FDIC is receiving reports of several fake cashier's checks each month.

"Some are complete phonies -- the bank name is phony, the city is misspelled. But some are identical copies, and it's really difficult to tell they're fake," according to Gene Seitz of the FDIC's special activity section.

Seitz says very few of the counterfeit cashier's checks are being cashed at banks; they're being used to pay individuals and merchants.

Seitz advises everyone who receives a cashier's check as payment to call the issuing bank and make sure it authorized that check.

That means consumers should think twice before accepting a cashier's check no matter how real it looks. If someone tries to give you a $2,000 cashier's check for your used car, or a $30 cashier's check for something you're selling on Ebay, don't accept the payment until the issuing bank has verified it.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

How did they know he was a trainee? Did he wear a little paper hat or a lapel pin that said, "ask me about martyrdom"?

One of the funniest things I've ever read here...

[okie01]

"None of the articles said the account was overdrawn- they just describe the checks as being bogus."

According to the first report I saw, the checks were drawn on the Pomona Branch of the America West Bank -- which has no branch in Pomona.

[okie01]

Ping. More info on our friend with the cashier's checks...

[Betty Jo]

...."his wife is a resident alien frm Japan and works for Northwest Airlines"....

Isn't that special?