Investigative Project on Terrorism Update

For all of our readers interested in the latest on terrorism in the world.

THE AMERICAS

 

GENERAL SECURITY, POLICY

 

1.  Iran's elite Guard 'runs global crime network pushing heroin to West'
Members of the Revolutionary Guard have seized control of drug trafficking 
Hugh Tomlinson The Times (London) Last updated November 17 2011 12:01AM
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3229170.ece [requires paid subscription] 

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have seized control of drug trafficking throughout the Islamic Republic, using the multibillion-pound trade to establish links with a global crime network and further its goal of undermining the West, according to former regime officials.  Despite executing hundreds of people each year for drug trafficking and possession, Iran's hardline stand against narcotics conceals a lucrative business smuggling heroin, opium and methamphetamine, spearheaded by the Guards, the supposed defenders of the Islamic Revolution.  The revelations come as Iran's Quds Force, an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard, is accused of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States by hiring a Mexican drug cartel to blow up a Washington restaurant.  American officials believe that an opportunity to open a new trafficking connection in North America was also discussed by the plotters.  The Times has learnt that the CIA has identified at least one unnamed commander of the Revolutionary Guard directly involved in smuggling narcotics out of Afghanistan via Iran…

 

Iranian drug ring funding terror?

Former Revolutionary Guard members claim despite strict anti-drug policy in Iran, elite forces run mass smuggling network to support radical Islamic factions including Hamas, Hezbollah

Dudi Cohen Published:  11.18.11, 11:55 / Ynetnews.com
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4149990,00.html

The revenues of an Iranian-run global narcotics network is being transferred to terrorist organizations, London-based The Times newspaper quoted former Revolutionary Guard officials as saying on Friday.   According to the sources, members of the elite guard took over the Islamic Republic's drug smuggling industry, and are using the revenues – estimated to reach dozens of billions of dollars – to build a solid support base for global crime networks and terror organizations acting against the West…  

 

Colombian Marxists plotted to sell uranium to Venezuela for 'distant friends'
Colombian Marxist rebels plotted to sell uranium to Venezuela in the belief that they would pass it on to "friends from distant lands", according to leaked emails. 
By Robin Yapp, Sao Paulo 8:58PM GMT 17 Nov 2011 The Daily Telegraph (London)

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8644

The emails were recovered from the computer of Raul Reyes, a former commander with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) who was killed by the country's army shortly after they were sent in 2008.  The following year a secret Israeli government report expressed concerns about intelligence suggesting Venezuela supplied Iran with uranium for its nuclear program.  Venezuela is one of the countries currently opposing tougher action against Iran following new evidence that Tehran's nuclear activities include clandestine efforts to build a bomb.  According to El Nacional, a Venezuelan opposition newspaper, Reyes received an email in February 2008 from fellow Farc commander Edgar Tovar, saying he knew a man in Bogota with 50 kilos of uranium who wanted to sell it at $2.5m per kilo... According to analysis of messages on Reyes's computer by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, 'Angel' is a pseudonym for Venezuela and the man Reyes hoped to speak to would have been a senior member of the Venezuelan government.  But Reyes was killed on March 1 2008 and it is unclear whether or not the Venezuelan government had been contacted about the plan…

 

2.  Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz The Washington Times Wednesday, November 16, 2011

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/16/inside-the-ring-758124735/?page=all#pagebreak

TAUSCHER TO OFFER DATA

The Obama administration is set to offer more concessions to the Russians on missile defense, the latest one a proposal to share secret technical data on the U.S. military's most effective anti-missile interceptor.  Word of the proposed offer is causing concern among missile defense advocates on Capitol Hill who have questioned the administration's past secret dealings with the Russians, led mainly by Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for international security and arms control…

 

MILITARY CYBERATTACKS

The president is ready to approve military cyberattacks or "kinetic" bombing raids in response to major cyberattacks on the United States, according to a Pentagon report to Congress… The Pentagon is working to bolster intelligence gathering and other efforts to improve the ability to trace the origin of attacks, the report says…

 

MORE ON GE-AVIC

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, is the second senior House Republican to write Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to request a formal national security review of the joint venture between General Electric and state-run Aviation Industry Corp. of China.  "This partnership is troubling for a number of reasons, especially given the increasingly aggressive posture of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the rapid advances in Chinese aeronautics and space programs, and the unprecedented Chinese threat from cyberattacks and espionage," Mr. Wolf, chairman of the subcommittee that funds the FBI, stated in the Nov. 14 letter...

 

3.  Mass. Man Accused in Terror Plot Seeks Bail
By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer November 14, 2011 (AP)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mass-man-accused-terror-plot-seeks-bail-14949953

IPT NOTE:  Court documents are posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/595
WORCESTER, Mass. -  A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to fly remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol is a "ticking time bomb" who is committed to attacking the United States, a prosecutor said Monday while urging a judge to keep him locked up while he awaits trial.  But attorneys for Rezwan Ferdaus argued for his release from jail, saying he is a mentally troubled man who had a "completely unrealistic fantasy" that had no chance of succeeding.  Ferdaus, 26, of Ashland, was arrested in September after undercover FBI employees posing as members of al-Qaida delivered what he believed was C-4 plastic explosives… Ferdaus, a Muslim with a physics degree from Boston's Northeastern University, faces six charges, including attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to damage and destroy national defense premises.  His lawyers are asking that Ferdaus be released on bail and placed in the custody of his father until trial…

 

Feds: We Have Video Of Terror Suspect Making Bomb Detonator
Ashland Man Asking For Bail
POSTED: 1:29 pm EST November 18, 2011
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/29806334/detail.html

BOSTON -- Federal prosecutors say they have a video of a man facing terror charges making a bomb detonator out of a cellphone.   The video was shown during a bail hearing in Federal Court in Worchester on Monday, during which prosecutors argued Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, of Ashland, is too dangerous to be released on bail…

 

4.  African pleads guilty in NYC to a terrorism charge, admitting drug dealing with dangerous men
By Associated Press, Published: November 15, 2011

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8645

IPT NOTE:  Court documents are posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/362

NEW YORK — An African man has pleaded guilty in New York City to a terrorism charge, admitting that he engaged in the drug dealing trade with men who claimed they worked for terrorists who committed kidnappings.  Oumar Issa pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.  The citizen of Mali told a magistrate judge that he agreed in 2009 to transport drugs through the Sahara desert. He said the men he worked with claimed they worked for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and that they had done kidnappings. Issa said he had never heard of FARC….

 

Malian man pleads guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to conspiring to provide material support to Al Qaeda & the FARC

US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Tuesday, November 15, 2011 (212) 637-2600
http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/1837.pdf

5.  MANHATTAN U.S. ATTORNEY ANNOUNCES EXTRADITIONS OF TWO DEFENDANTS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRING TO PROVIDE SUPPORT TO HIZBALLAH

One of the Defendants Allegedly Agreed to Acquire $9.5 Million Worth of Surface-to-Air
Missiles and Other Weapons for Hizballah
US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Thursday, November 17, 2011
CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE Ellen Davis, Jerika Richardson, Carly Sullivan (212) 637-2600
http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/1839.pdf

IPT NOTE:  Case documents posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/556

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the extraditions of SIAVOSH HENAREH and CETIN AKSU from Romania, on charges of conspiring to provide narcotics and, in the case of AKSU, material support to Hizballah through an individual whom they believed to be an associate of Hizballah, but who was in fact, a United States Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), confidential source. HENAREH, 57, a citizen of Iran, and AKSU, 49, a citizen of Turkey, arrived in the Southern District of New York today… According to the Superseding Indictment:…

 

6.  May trial date set for Aldawsari
A federal judge on Tuesday pushed back until May the trial date of suspected terrorist Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari.
Posted: November 15, 2011 - 5:06pm  |  Updated: November 16, 2011 - 12:39am
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL (Lubbock, TX)
http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-courts/2011-11-15/may-trial-date-set-aldawsari

IPT NOTE: Court documents posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/512

A federal judge on Tuesday pushed back until May the trial date of suspected terrorist Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari.  U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings set the case for trial May 14. The case had been scheduled to go to trial Jan. 9.  Aldawsari is accused of plotting attacks against the United States... Earlier this month, attorneys for Aldawsari, 21, asked Cummings to order a competency exam after they claimed the Saudi national suffers from a mental disease, defect or disorder and is not competent to stand trial.  They also filed their intent to use an insanity defense… Cummings has yet to rule on whether information obtained from a clandestine FBI investigation should be turned over to defense counsel and whether it will be admissible in court.  The government claims the materials are protected by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978…

 

7.  FBI agent recounts visit to terror suspect
By Milton J. Valencia Boston Globe November 17, 2011

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8646

They showed up at the Walgreens pharmacy in Marlborough, where they knew he would be working, and asked to speak to him. The FBI agents who visited Tarek Mehanna in December 2006 told his supervisor that Mehanna was not in trouble, but that they wanted to speak to him in a private room.  And there they asked him about his associates, Ahmad Abousamra and Kareem Abuzahra, and a trip to Yemen he took two years earlier. They wanted to know why he went.  He replied, "It was for the purpose of finding an Arabic language school and an Islamic religious school," FBI special agent Brad Davis testified yesterday in Mehanna's terrorism trial, recounting the interview five years ago… But according to federal prosecutors, the account was a lie. Mehanna and Abousamra, prosecutors say, traveled to the Middle Eastern country in February 2004 seeking terrorism training to carry out violent jihad, including against American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Both men, who are American citizens, face charges of conspiring to support terrorists, to kill in a foreign country, and of lying to investigators by giving what prosecutors called a false account of their trip when questioned by the agents in 2006. Mehanna is also accused of lying in that same interview about the whereabouts of Daniel Maldonado, a former friend who was fighting with Muslim jihadists in Somalia. Mehanna allegedly told the agents he thought Maldonado, an American citizen, was in Egypt, when, prosecutors say, he knew Maldonado had undergone terrorist training and was fighting in Somalia…

 

Witness says suspect wanted to fight Americans in Iraq, hope to participate in jihad
By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, November 17, 4:42 PM

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8647

BOSTON — An American in prison for training at a terrorist camp in Somalia testified Thursday that a fellow American accused of plotting to help al-Qaida told him that he would fight U.S. soldiers in Iraq, if given the chance.  Daniel Maldonado took the witness stand Thursday in the trial of Tarek Mehanna, a Sudbury, Mass., man charged with plotting to provide material support to al-Qaida and unsuccessfully attempting to get training at a terrorist camp in Yemen. Mehanna then allegedly began helping al-Qaida by translating and distributing online texts and videos promoting violent jihad…  Maldonado testified against Mehanna as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that he said spared him a life sentence. He pleaded guilty to receiving military-style training from a terrorist organization, al-Qaida, and is serving a 10-year sentence...

 

8.  Terrorism top concern at Justice Department
Ten years later, department tracks domestic, foreign foes
By Jerry Seper The Washington Times Monday, November 14, 2011 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/14/terrorism-top-concern-at-justice/

IPT NOTE: The cited OIG report is posted at http://www.justice.gov/oig/challenges/2011.htm. 

Ten years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, counterterrorism remains the Justice Department's highest priority, according to a report released Monday.  Acting Inspector General Cynthia A. Schnedar said the deaths of al Qaeda leaders, including the May killing in Pakistan of Osama Bin Laden, have not affected the goal of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to conduct attacks inside the United States... She said her office is conducting multiple reviews and audits to assess how the department manages information relating to counterterrorism, including an examination of the FBI's management of the terrorist watch-list nominations process and its encounters with those on the watch list…

 

9.  Canadian with Libya ties arrested in Mexico
Stewart Bell, National Post · Nov. 17, 2011 | Last Updated: Nov. 17, 2011 4:15 AM ET

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Canadian+with+Libya+ties+arrested+Mexico/5723307/story.html

A Canadian who led a fact finding mission to Libya last summer has been arrested in Mexico, and two partners of the U.S. private security contractor who supplied her plane are also in custody.  The Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa confirmed the arrest of Cynthia Vanier and said consular officials at the Canadian embassy in Mexico City were gathering information from local authorities.  Also arrested were two partners of Gregory Gillispie, an ex-Marine who heads Veritas Worldwide Security, a San Diego-based company that offers, among other services, "clandestine operations," "armed combat" and provision of weapons...

 

10.  Tories aim to fill terrorism law gaps
Stewart Bell and Kathryn Blaze Carlson, National Post · Nov. 16, 2011

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Tories+fill+terrorism+gaps/5716724/story.html

TORONTO . The federal government is considering additions to the Anti-Terrorism Act that would outlaw glorifying terrorism and attending a terrorist training camp, the National Post has learned.  While the changes are still under discussion, several sources said both items were on the table in an attempt to fill gaps in the anti-terrorism law that was passed almost a decade ago in response to the 9/11 attacks.  The amendments would bring Canada in line with a British law passed in 2006 that criminalized giving or receiving training in terrorist techniques and glorifying terrorism with the intent to incite violence.  It would also put Canada in compliance with a 2005 United Nations Security Council resolution that called on countries to "prohibit by law incitement to commit terrorist acts" and to "prevent such conduct."  But the attempt to outlaw incitement could be controversial, pitting the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Charter of Rights against the threat posed by fanatics who encourage their followers to commit terrorist violence… Since 2006, Canadian police have charged two online jihadists. Said Namouh of Quebec was a member of the Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaeda mouthpiece that uses the Internet to promote terrorist attacks against the West. He was sentenced to life for conspiracy, extortion, facilitating terrorism and participating in a terrorist group.  Salman Hossain of Toronto had used the Internet to call for terrorism against Canadians. He was charged with inciting genocide and hate speech, but he fled the country and has not been arrested…

 

Canadian servers hosting Syrian government, Hezbollah sites: Citizen Lab
Matt Hartley The Financial Post Nov 17, 2011 – 12:20 AM ET | Last Updated: Nov 18, 2011 1:13 AM ET
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8653
Several websites belonging to the government of Syria, as well as media companies sympathetic to the Syrian government and the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, are currently being hosted on servers based in Canada, according to a new report from Canadian researchers at The Citizen Lab.  According to the report — entitled The Canadian Connection: An investigation of Syrian government and Hezbollah Web hosting in Canada – http://citizenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/canadian_connection.pdf -- Websites belonging to the Syrian Ministries of Culture, Transport, Electricity and the Syrian patent office are currently being hosted by iWeb Technologies, a Montreal-based company, through a series of intermediary companies, one of which is called "Platinum Incorporated."  Addounia TV, a Syrian television station which has been sanctioned in the past by both the Canadian government and the European Union for inciting violence against Syrian citizens, is also making use of Canadian Web servers owned by iWeb in Montreal… The report from the Citizen Lab — a research organization based out of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto – raises serious questions about the use of Canadian technology to help prop up the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has used brutal violence to repress the peaceful demonstrations of protesters in recent months…

AIR, RAIL, PORT, HEALTH & COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY
 
IPT NOTE: DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/editorial_0542.shtm ;  DHS Blog http://blog.dhs.gov/ ;  TSA Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm ; TSA Blog http://blog.tsa.gov/

 

11.  We are prepared to take military action against cyber attackers, warn U.S. defence chiefs

Pentagon: 'We will use all necessary means to defend our interests'
By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 1:32 PM on 16th November 2011

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062247/Cyber-attacks-US-defence-chiefs-prepared-military-action.html
Defence chiefs have warned that the U.S. is prepared to retaliate with military force if it came under cyber attack.  In the most explicit statement about cyber security to date, Pentagon officials said that they reserved the right to use 'all necessary means to defend our allies, our partners and our interests.'  'When warranted, we will respond to hostile attacks in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country,' the 12-page report to Congress  noted.  Hostile acts, it said, could include 'significant cyber attacks directed against the U.S. economy, government or military' and the response could use electronic means or more conventional military options.  The report, mandated by the 2011 Defence Authorisation Act, was made public yesterday…

 

12.  Foreign hackers targeted U.S. water plant in apparent malicious cyber attack, expert says
By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Posted at 12:44 PM ET, 11/18/2011
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8651
Foreign hackers broke into a water plant control system in Illinois last week and damaged a water pump in what may be the first reported case of a malicious cyber attack on a critical computer system in the United States, according to an industry expert.  On Nov. 8, a municipal water district employee in Illinois noticed problems with the city's water pump control system, and a technician determined the system had been remotely hacked into from a computer located in Russia, said Joe Weiss, an industry security expert who obtained a copy of an Illinois state fusion center report describing the incident.  The city affected was Springfield, Ill., according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Problems with the system had been observed for two to three months and recently the system "would power on and off, resulting in the burnout of a water pump," the Nov. 10 report from the statewide terrorism and intelligence center stated, according to Weiss, who read the report to The Washington Post.  "This is a big deal," said Weiss. The report stated it is unknown how many other systems might be affected.  According to the report, hackers apparently broke into a software company's database and retrieved user names and passwords of various control systems that run water plant computer equipment. Using that data, they were able to hack into the plant in Illinois, Weiss said...

 

13.  Man whose behavior caused flight from Newark airport to return to gate is questioned but released
Published: Friday, November 18, 2011, 10:56 AM By Richard Khavkine/The Star-Ledger
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/man_whose_behavior_caused_flig.html

NEWARK — A Canadian citizen whose on-board behavior caused a taxiing plane at Newark Liberty International Airport to return to its gate Thursday night was questioned but released by federal authorities, a Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman said today.  The man, who was not identified by name, was said to be nervous about the scheduled duration of Continental's London-bound flight 28 and needed to go to the bathroom, Special Agent Bryan Travers said.  Because the passenger refused to comply with flight attendants' instructions to remain seated, the pilot, "as a measure of caution," returned to the gate, where he was interrogated by federal air marshals, Travers said. Federal agents later determined there was "no nefarious motive for the disturbance" and the man was allowed to rebook his flight out of the country, he said…

 

FINANCING, MONEY LAUNDERING, BRIBERY, FRAUD, IDENTITY THEFT, CIVIL LITIGATION

 

14.  Appeals Court Examines First-Ever Narco-Terrorism Conviction

Posted by Mike Scarcella on November 17, 2011 at 12:41 PM Legal Times blog, the BLT

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8648

A lawyer representing the first person ever convicted for violating narco-terrorism laws told a federal appeals court in Washington today that the evidence in the case was insufficient to support the charges.

The defendant, Khan Mohammed, an Afghan national who was convicted in Washington federal district court in September 2008, allegedly provided proceeds of a drug transaction to a person amid a planned attack against an airfield where U.S. military personnel were stationed.  That person was working as a confidential source for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Afghanistan. The government secretly recorded conversations between the source and Mohammed to build a narco-terrorism case. Mohammed was arrested in 2006… Mohammed's court-appointed attorneys, Hogan Lovells partner Peter Spivack and associate Shardui Desai, urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to strike the conviction or, in the alternative, send the case back for resentencing.  Desai argued today that the trial judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, improperly applied a terrorism enhancement to sentence Mohammed to life behind bars. Kollar-Kotelly, however, said she would have imposed a life sentence without the enhancement, court records show…

 

15.  Virginia Store Owner Pleads Guilty to Trafficking in Counterfeit Goods

U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs November 15, 2011 

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8649

WASHINGTON—Belal Amin Alsaidi, 30, of Buffalo, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to trafficking in counterfeit goods, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department's Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Alsaidi pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Hannah Lauck in Richmond, Va., to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods. In his guilty plea, Alsaidi admitted that he sold shoes and apparel that he knew were counterfeit at his two stores in Petersburg, Va., from May 2007 until March 2009. Alsaidi also admitted that he purchased these counterfeit goods from an individual in New York...

 

16.  U.S. developing anti-laundering rules for advisers
By Brett Wolf Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:51am EST Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/financial-laundering-idUSN1E7AF0HN20111116

WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - The U.S. Treasury Department is developing long-awaited anti-money laundering rules for investment advisers and plans to involve the Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators in the process, a senior department official said.  James Freis Jr., director of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), said regulation of investment advisers in general under the Dodd-Frank Act has progressed sufficiently far that FinCEN can "revisit" the issue, which it put on the back burner in 2008 as it worked on rules for other industries…

 

17.  Three Men Indicted In NYC ATM 'Skimming' Scheme
November 16, 2011 2:00 PM
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/11/16/three-suspects-indicted-in-nyc-atm-skimming-scheme/ 

IPT NOTE:  DA's press release is posted at http://manhattanda.org/press-release/81-count-indictment-unsealed-large-scale-atm-skimming-case

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) –Three men have been charged in what prosecutors call an elaborate ATM scam that stole thousands of debit card numbers from unwary customers.  Authorities indicted 31-year-old Nikolai Ivanov, 28-year-old Dimitar Stamatov and 24-year-old Iordan Ivanov on various charges ranging from burglary and criminal possession of forgery devices to grand and petit larceny.  Nikolai Ivanov and Stamatov are also charged with identity theft.  The suspects are accused of ripping off nearly 1,500 people by planting illegal skimming devices and hidden cameras on ATMs in Union Square and Astor Place in the East Village.  Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said these defendants made a habit of travelling from Canada to New York to rip off hundreds of Manhattan residents and visitors.  The defendants are accused of using the stolen debit cards to make more than $260,000 in fraudulent purchases…

 

81-COUNT INDICTMENT UNSEALED IN LARGE-SCALE ATM SKIMMING CASE
Defendants Victimized Nearly 1,500 People in Five Months
District Attorney, New York County November 16, 2011
http://manhattanda.org/press-release/81-count-indictment-unsealed-large-scale-atm-skimming-case

18.  Dallas Area Used Car Dealers Indicted in Money Laundering Scheme
Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs November 17, 2011
http://www.justice.gov/usao/txe/News/2011/edtx-amini-111711.html

SHERMAN, Texas - Two Dallas area used car dealers have been charged with federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.    Bahman Hafez Amini, also known as Ben Amini, 44, of Parker, Texas, and Jose Ivan Jimenez, 47, of Dallas, appeared on Nov. 16, 2011, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Amos Mazzant on money laundering charge.  According to the indictment, Amini served as the owner and operator of Dallas Roadster, a company which sold used cars, and Jimenez was employed as a salesman for Dallas Roadster.  In four separate transactions, Amini and Jimenez sold cars to an individual directed by law enforcement and undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents who represented that the money that they used to purchase the cars came from the distribution of controlled substances.  Amini and Jimenez also titled these transactions in the names of third parties in order to conceal the source of payment and true ownership of the automobiles, and also agreed to withhold required reports about the transactions from the federal government.  On Nov. 9, 2011, a federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment charging Amini and Jimenez with money laundering…

 

BORDER SECURITY, IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS
 
IPT NOTE:  US Customs & Border Protection, http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/ ; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement http://www.ice.gov/news/ ; Canada Border Services Agency http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html

 

19.  More than 14 tons of marijuana seized after cross-border tunnel is discovered
November 16, 2011 1:10 pm    Los Angeles Times

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8652

U.S. and Mexican authorities on Wednesday announced the seizure of more than 14 tons of marijuana and the discovery of a large cross-border tunnel linking a warehouse in San Diego to Tijuana.  The drug seizure was part of the multi-agency investigation that was coordinated with the Mexican military, authorities said.  The discovery of the tunnel demonstrates the continuing efforts of Mexican organized crime groups to circumvent bolstered border defenses by constructing sophisticated subterranean passageways that can handle enormous drug shipments.  Dozens of tunnels have been discovered in recent years, most of them in the same light industrial area of San Diego's Otay Mesa neighborhood, where this most recent passageway was discovered on Tuesday...

 

20.  Convicted al-Qaida supporter tried to enter Canada but was turned back
By Douglas Quan, Postmedia News November 15, 2011   

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8654

IPT NOTE:  Court documents are posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/472
A man convicted in Texas Monday of trying to help al-Qaida terrorists and who authorities feared might be the next "American Taliban" attempted to enter Canada a couple years ago but was turned away by a suspicious Canadian border agent, an official said Tuesday.  Barry Walter Bujol Jr. showed up at the Windsor, Ont.-Detroit border in March 2009. But a Canadian border agent denied Bujol entry because Bujol was unclear about how long he intended to stay in the country, said Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston.  Bujol had personal belongings on him, suggesting to the agent that he was planning more than just a short visit, Dodge said.  The Canada Border Services Agency was one of several agencies cited in a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston Monday after U.S. District Judge David Hittner convicted Bujol, 30, of attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida…

 

ASIA/PACIFIC

 

21.  Two British terror suspects killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan
Pair, both Muslims from east London, believed to have been killed in separate incidents in the South Waziristan region

Ian Cobain and Ahmad Khan guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 November 2011 12.50 EST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/18/british-terror-suspects-killed-drone-pakistan
Two young British men have been killed in US drone strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal belt, according to reports from the country. The pair, both Muslims from London, are reported to have been killed in separate drone strikes two weeks apart in South Waziristan.  One of the men has been named as Ibrahim Adam, 24, who fled from the UK with his brother four years ago, while both were the subject of control orders. The second is said to be a relative of another British Muslim, Abdul Jabbar, who was killed in a drone attack last year.  The Foreign Office was unable to confirm the deaths on Friday but said: "We are aware of reports and looking into them further."… Reports from the region suggest the number of suspected militants being killed by missiles fired by unmanned US aircraft may be escalating sharply…

 

22.  Haqqani Network releases video of training camps

Written by Bill Roggio on November 17, 2011 12:33 AM The Long War Journal

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/11/haqqani_network_rele.php

The Haqqani Network has released footage of its fighters going though training at a camp situated along the Afghan-Pakistan border. The video provides an interesting and previously unseen look at the Haqqani Network's training of its recruits.  The footage of Haqqani Network fighters being trained was included in an approximately 69-minute-long video commemorating the team that assaulted the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on June 28, 2011. Afghan intelligence traced the attack via an intercepted phone conversation to Badruddin Haqqani, an operational commander in the Haqqani Network who also sits on the Taliban's Miramshah Shura and is a son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the patriarch of the al Qaeda-linked network. During the attack, Badruddin was in communication with the suicide assault team and was directing the attack from Pakistan.   The video was released by Manba al-Jihad, "a media unit of the Haqqani Network within the Afghan Taliban,"... The video was released on jihadist Internet forums on Nov. 11 and was also published in segments on a Taliban-linked YouTube site and linked at the Taliban's website, Voice of Jihad. YouTube has since removed some of the segments...

 

23.  US refocuses Philippine aid from battling terrorists to bolstering muscle in South China Sea
By Associated Press, Published: November 15, 2011 Updated: Wednesday, November 16, 6:15 AM

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/8650

MANILA, Philippines — In a highly symbolic ceremony aboard a guided-missile destroyer Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton underscored America's military and diplomatic backing for the Philippines as it engages in an increasingly tense territorial dispute with China in the resource-rich South China Sea.  On board the USS Fitzgerald in Manila Bay, Clinton and Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario signed a declaration calling for multilateral talks to resolve maritime disputes such as those in the South China Sea, contrasting China's policy of negot