NY Mosque Raided In Missile Sting

[Dover]

NY Mosque Raided In Missile Sting

CBS/AP) 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, there was no such plot. The purchase of the RPG-7 grenade launcher and the assassination scheme were fabrications put forth by a convicted felon who was secretly cooperating with federal prosecutors to reduce his prison sentence on document fraud charges.

At a news conference, Deputy Attorney General James Comey acknowledged there was no genuine threat of any terrorist attack. "This is not the case of the century," he said.

However, Comey said, in addition to removing two potentially dangerous people from the streets, the sting operation was meant to send a message to terrorists and their sympathizers....cont'd

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/05/terror/main634129.shtml

[struggle4progress]

1. Lawyer: Case against Muslim cleric is 'fantasy'

Says prosecution has 'racial, religious, cultural' overtones
Saturday, August 7, 2004 Posted: 0212 GMT (1012 HKT)
ALBANY, New York (CNN)
<snip>

"This case mostly exists in the imagination of an undercover agent, a snitch -- it strikes me as fantasy," defense attorney Terry Kindlon said.
<snip>

Kindlon, an Albany attorney who has practiced law for more than 30 years, was assigned Friday to represent Yassin Aref, a 34-year-old Iraqi who is an imam, or prayer leader, at the As-Salam mosque in the New York capital.
<snip>

A different attorney is representing Hossain.
<snip>

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/06/ny.missile.sting/

[struggle4progress]

2. Albany Mosque Suspects Weren’t Keen On Buying Arms: Report

New York, August 7 (NNN): The two Muslim men, who were nabbed following an Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid on a mosque in Albany, New York, showed no interest in buying a shoulder-fired missile when they allegedly entered into a deal with a government informant posing as a weapons dealer, a major American Newspaper reported Friday.

The deal was part of a sting operation reportedly involving money laundering, a shoulder-fired missile and a fake plot to kill the Pakistani ambassador in New York.

Yassin Muhiddin Aref, 34, the Imam of the Masjid As-Salam mosque, and Mohammed Mosharref Hossain, 49, one of the mosque's founders, were arrested Thursday on money-laundering charges and for concealing material support for terrorism.

The story was dished out in piecemeal to maximise its impact, warning that terrorists or their sympathisers are still living in the United States.
<snip>

http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=080604114725