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Six suspected Al Qaeda supporters indicted in US

The United States administration has intensified its efforts to stop the support and flow of money for overseas terrorist activities from its soil.

A grand jury in Detroit has charged Karim Koubriti, Ahmed Hannan, Youssef Hmimssa, Farouk Ali-Haimoud, and Abdella, all of Arab origin, with conspiring to support Al Qaeda.

They have been charged with operating a "covert underground support unit" and a "sleeper operational combat cell" for the radical Islamic movement 'Salafiyya', an Al Qaeda ally. All but Abdella are in custody since shortly after September 11.

The indictment also said they had plotted attacks on sites in Turkey and Jordan and possessed a videotape that showcased landmarks such as Disneyland in California and the MGM Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, to cause economic harm to US businesses.

Another grand jury in Seattle charged James Ujaama with supporting a plan to set up an Al Qaeda training camp in the western US state of Oregon, discharging a firearm during a crime, and flying to Afghanistan to supply computer equipment to the terrorist group.

Under US law, a grand jury decides whether there is a prima facie case before going to trial. Both indictments used a law barring people living in the United States from providing "material support and resources" to terrorist groups.

Law enforcement agents believe they have uncovered a broad effort by US residents, many of who are citizens or legal residents, to use credit card fraud, illegal cigarette sales, diverted charitable funds, and cash smuggled in airline luggage to enrich anti-American and anti-Israeli terror groups.

"The material support for terrorism has to be regarded as serious as terrorism itself," said Charles Mandigo, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's top agent in Seattle.

One law enforcement officer told the media that agents recently began investigating possible terrorist-funding schemes that employ the Internet or defraud federal aid programmes as well.

The official added that evidence so far indicates that anti-Israel groups Hamas and Hezbollah receive far more support from US soil than from Al Qaeda.

Meanwhile, Ujaama in a statement charged the government with conducting a witch-hunt. He pointed out that his community work had won him praise in his hometown. He was once given a key to the city of Seattle. And in Washington State, lawmakers had declared June 10, 1994, 'James Ujaama Day'.

PTI

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