Free Republic

An Indian-born U.S. citizen was sentenced Monday to more than five years in prison for his role in a plot to obtain and sell Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Taliban and al-Qaida. Ilyas Ali, 58, formerly of St. Paul, Minn. also was ordered to serve five years probation following his release. Ali pleaded guilty in 2004 to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and hashish, and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Two other men both from Pakistan pleaded guilty to the same charges. Muhamed Abid Afridi, 32, also was sentenced to nearly five years...

Admitted felon Ilyas Ali, who once ran a butcher shop in Minneapolis, Minn., is also a master of political spin. When a reporter visited Ali in a Hong Kong jail last year after Ali had been arrested for trying to trade heroin and hashish for shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles that he intended to resell to al Qaeda, Ali posed as the victim of Attorney General John Ashcroft and his over-zealous Justice Department. American law enforcement "screwed up 9/11 and now they're arresting innocent people for political purposes," Ali, a naturalized citizen born in India, told the Associated Press. "I'm very, very...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Two defendants admitted their roles Wednesday in a plot to sell Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Taliban and al-Qaida, authorities said. Ilyas Ali, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India, and Muhamed Abid Afridi of Pakistan pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to distribute heroin and hashish, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. The case against a third defendant, Syed Mustajab Shah of Pakistan, is pending. In a plea bargain, Ali and Afridi admitted they planned to sell 5 tons of hashish and a half-ton of Pakistani heroin in exchange for cash...

Three men held in Hong Kong for nearly four months agreed on Monday to be extradited to the United States, where they are wanted for allegedly trying to buy anti-aircraft missiles for al Qaeda. The three -- two Pakistanis and a U.S. citizen of Indian origin -- were arrested on September 20 in Hong Kong for allegedly trying to sell a huge haul of heroin and hashish to undercover FBI agents in exchange for four Stinger missiles. "I have no objection to be handed over to the United States...as soon as possible," one of the suspects, Syed Saadat Ali Faraz,...