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Muslims Angry Over FBI Terrorism Sting in Albany ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - Angry and saddened, members of a Muslim community in New York state's capital have been staying away from their mosque for fear of being labeled terrorists as they await a bail hearing on Tuesday for two men accused of supporting terrorism. The hearing is the second proceeding against the pair associated with an Albany mosque and arrested in an FBI sting operation. It was granted by U.S. Magistrate David Homer after a possible translation error turned up in key evidence against them. Yassin Aref, 34, and Mohammed Hossain,...

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. - A key piece of evidence against a jailed mosque leader accused of supporting terrorism has come into question, with federal prosecutors acknowledging that a note found in a terrorist camp may have been mistranslated. Yassin Muhiddin Aref is charged with aiding a government informant in a sting operation involving a fake plot to buy a shoulder-fired missile to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat. Seems 'commander' should have been 'brother'. But the AP thinks the whole case is 'bogus'. Typical.

ALBANY - A mosque leader charged with helping launder money in a missile plot thought all the weapon talk was a joke, his lawyer said yesterday - but prosecutors were not laughing. Imam Yassin Muhiddin Aref was jailed without bail after prosecutors questioned why his name was found in a notebook in a terrorist camp listed as "Commander Yassin, United States." They also unveiled a photo of the imam's co-defendant watching as an informant shouldered a real surface-to-air missile in the back room of an Albany-area convenience store. That was among the evidence cited by prosecutors in Albany Federal Court...

The snitch who helped nab two Albany mosque leaders this week on terror-related charges is a Pakistani businessman who has been working with the feds for nearly three years, The Post has learned.A source close to the government informant identified him as a 48-year-old man who came to the United States 10 years ago. The source, who spoke to the informant this week, said "he seems relieved and jubilant that he doesn't have to do this anymore," because the federal investigation that led to the arrests on Thursday had taken a toll on him.'snip'As a resident alien in danger of...

The two men arrested in Albany for allegedly taking part in a terrorist plot were men of God. So friends and neighbors have been telling reporters. Mohammed Mosharref Hossain was a pillar of the local congregation. Yassin Muhiddin Aref was a prayer leader. They called their mosque the House of Peace. The mosque belongs to the North American Islamic Trust, which runs many other mosques in the U.S. The trust is funded mostly by the Saudis. It has other enterprises, too, including a book club. One of its featured offerings is "Jihad: A Commitment to World Peace." Or if you...

The two men arrested in Albany for allegedly taking part in a terrorist plot were men of God. So friends and neighbors have been telling reporters. Mohammed Mosharref Hossain was a pillar of the local congregation. Yassin Muhiddin Aref was a prayer leader. They called their mosque the House of Peace. The mosque belongs to the North American Islamic Trust, which runs many other mosques in the U.S. The trust is funded mostly by the Saudis. It has other enterprises, too, including a book club. One of its featured offerings is "Jihad: A Commitment to World Peace." Or if you...

WASHINGTON - Documents found by American troops at a terrorist camp in Iraq last year contained the name of a New York mosque imam now facing federal charges of plotting to obtain a shoulder-fired grenade launcher, law enforcement officials said Friday. An entry in an address book found by the soldiers at an Ansar al-Islam camp last summer in northern Iraq referred to Yassin Aref as "the commander" and included his address and telephone number in Albany, N.Y., the officials said. Although Aref had come to the FBI's attention before the address book's discovery, two law enforcement officials speaking on...

So here we are in the midst of the most urgent and specific terror warning since 9/11 – and as it goes on, the FBI catches two leaders of a mosque in Albany trying to purchase a shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile. We do not yet know what target the two would-be purchasers had in mind, but we do know that this kind of mosque-based violence and extremism is not exactly a freakishly rare event, to put it mildly. Yet here is the reaction to the arrest of the nation’s highest-profile Islamic advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations: "The government's allegations...

Two officials at an Albany, N.Y., mosque have been arrested in a sting operation for trying to help purchase a shoulder-fired missile to assassinate a top Pakistani diplomat in New York, authorities said yesterday.     Yassin Aref, 34, imam at the Masjid As-Salam mosque, and Mohammed Hossain, 49, a mosque founder, were taken into custody Wednesday night by FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.     Arrested after a yearlong undercover investigation, the men are suspected as having ties to a radical Islamic group known as Ansar al-Islam, or "Soldiers of Islam," named in connection with the 2001 assassination of...

August 6, 2004 -- The arrest yesterday of two leaders of an Albany mosque raises worrisome questions regarding the presence of a terrorist fifth column in America. At first glance, the case seemed to involve simple money-laundering — albeit with a troubling political subtext. Even Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Comey conceded that "this is not the case of the century." Certainly it seems that the arrests are not on a par with the FBI bust two years ago of the Lackawanna Six, an al Qaeda sleeper cell based in the Buffalo suburb. At its most basic level, this is...

August 6, 2004 2 Mosque Leaders Are Arrested in Plot to Import Missile and Kill DiplomatBy ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. ASHINGTON, Aug. 5 - Two leaders of a mosque in Albany have been arrested in a government sting operation on charges that they took part in what they thought was a plot to import a shoulder-fired missile and assassinate a Pakistani diplomat in New York City, law enforcement officials said on Thursday.Officials charged that the two leaders, Mohammed M. Hossain and Yassin M. Aref, conspired with a man who claimed to have ties to Islamic terrorists in...

Neighbors Describe the Suspects as Peaceful, Religious Family MenBy AL BAKERPublished: August 6, 2004 LBANY, Aug. 5 - The small mosque on Central Avenue is as nondescript as many of the other storefronts lining the busy streets that run west from the doors of the State Capitol here, the Laundromats, fast food places and cramped shops that sell used furniture and old records or fix broken appliances.So it was not until pictures of it were splashed across television screens after two of its leaders were arrested early Thursday that many people said they felt the presence of Islam in their...

Two Albany, N.Y., Mosque Leaders Arrested 12:54 AM EST - August 06, 2004 The Associated Press WASHINGTON Authorities arrested two leaders of a mosque in Albany, N.Y., early Thursday and charged them with aiding in a purported plot to buy a shoulder-fired grenade launcher to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat.According to an FBI affidavit, the men laundered money for the purchase of the launcher they were told would be used to assassinate the ambassador at the Pakistani consulate across from the United Nations in New York. The murder supposedly was meant to punish the Pakistani government for cooperating with non-Muslims.In fact,...

Shep Smith just reported that the name of Albany Imam was found in an Iraqi terror camp!!!

FBI agents arrested two members of a Central Avenue mosque in an overnight raid in connection with an alleged plot to buy a shoulder-fired missile that would be used to assassinate the Pakistani ambassador in New York, according to court papers filed today in federal court in Albany. Mosque members said the imam, 34-year-old Yassim Aref, who also spells his first name Yasen, was arrested early this morning. Another mosque leader, Mohammed Mosharref Hossain, 49, an owner of a downtown pizzeria, was arrested at his home, according to mosque members. The arrests are in connection with a money-laundering scheme involving...

ANNOUNCEMENT ALBANY POLICE NEWS CONFERENCE on now discussing early morning raid and the arrests of 3 men thought to have terrorist ties, money laundering, and attempting tp purchase stinger missles LISTEN LIVE AT WWW.WROW.COM  

Federal Agents Raid Mosque in Albany ALBANY, N.Y. — Federal agents and Albany police raided a Muslim mosque overnight Wednesday and arrested two men for helping someone they thought was a terrorist, a law enforcement official confirmed to FOX News on Thursday. The men have ties to a group called Ansar al-Islam, which has been linked to Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network, according to law enforcement officials. The State Department has declared the group a foreign terrorist organization. A block of downtown Albany was sealed off with armed officers for several hours after the FBI, Immigration and Customs...

ALBANY, N.Y. — Federal agents and Albany police raided a Muslim mosque overnight Wednesday and arrested two men for helping someone they thought was a terrorist, a law enforcement official confirmed to FOX News on Thursday. A block of downtown Albany (search) was sealed off with armed officers for several hours after the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agents executed search warrants at the Masjid As-Salam mosque (search) and two Albany-area residences, officials said. Yassin Muhhiddin Aref, 34, the Imam of the mosque, and Mohammed Mosharref Hoosain, the 49-year-old founder of the mosque, were arrested early Thursday morning....

Mohammed Hossain   Last updated: 9:18 a.m., Thursday, August 5, 2004 Editor's note: As part of its recently published special report on Albany's Central Avenue, the Times Union featured a profile of Mohammed Hossain, one of the suspects arrested Thursday during an FBI raid of the Masjid As-Salam mosque in Albany. Here is the text of that story. Mohammed Hossain's journey to owning Little Italy pizzeria began in an unlikely place: Bangladesh. Hossain and his wife, Mossamat, emigrated with their 1-year-old son, Abuhamza, from Bangladesh in 1985 in search of opportunity to lift themselves out of grinding poverty. Their...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- Two leaders of a mosque in Albany, New York, were arrested on charges stemming from an alleged plot to help a man they thought was a terrorist who wanted to purchase a shoulder-fired missile, federal authorities said Thursday.