Federal agents arrest father, son, allege connection to al-Qaida
Federal agents have arrested four Lodi men, including a father and son believed to have connections to an al-Qaida training camp.
Hamid Hayat, 22, of Lodi, is accused in a federal criminal complaint of training in an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan. His father, 47-year-old Umer Hayat, a Lodi ice cream truck driver, is charged in the complaint with lying about his son's involvement and his own financing of the terror camp.
Federal agents stand by as a residence on Acacia Street is searched following arrests made earlier in the week. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)
Also arrested were two leaders of the Lodi Muslim Mosque, Shabbir Ahmed, imam of the mosque, and Mohammad Adil Khan. They were arrested on immigration charges.
Hamid Hayat is accused of going to the training camp to learn "how to kill Americans" and then lying to FBI agents about it. His training included explosives and weapons instruction and using photographs of President Bush as targets, court documents indicate.
Late Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the arrests of the Hayats came after the younger man was discovered aboard a San Francisco-bound plane even though his name appeared on a "No Fly" list of suspected extremists.
At the time, according to an FBI affidavit, Hayat was returning to the U.S. after having visited Pakistan. According to the affidavit, he told agents that after attending al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004, he was given his pick of where to carry out his terrorist mission, The Times reported.
"Hamid advised that he specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his jihadi mission," the affidavit says, according to the Times. "Potential targets for attack would include hospitals and large food stores."
Both Hamid and Umer Hayat are U.S. citizens and both made a brief initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski. Both are being held in the Sacramento County Jail pending further court proceedings.
Khan and Shabbir Ahmed were arrested after they met separately with Umer Hayat in the predawn hours Saturday.
Neither Khan nor Ahmed was arrested on any criminal charges, according to Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"It's unfortunate," Nasim Khan, former mosque president, said after hearing about the arrests of Khan and Ahmed. "These are guys who've been doing good work in the community."
Mohammad Adil Khan
Meanwhile on Tuesday, FBI agents searched Ahmed's house on Poplar Street, next door to the Lodi Muslim Mosque, and another house in the 300 block of Acacia Street, about four blocks from the mosque.
The house on Acacia, just east of Washington Street, has two residences. The family living in the portion of the house closest to the street was not involved in the FBI search.
It is not clear if the searches were related to the arrests.
The family whose residence was searched had just returned from a four-month stay in Pakistan, said Les Kolb, who lives across the street from the Acacia Street house that was being searched.
The residents are very cordial neighbors and had never been a problem, he added.
Agents at the scene and at the FBI office in Sacramento would not disclose what they were doing in Lodi Tuesday.
On Tuesday evening, at least a half-dozen FBI agents searched Khan's residence at 12828 N. Lower Sacramento Road, between Harney Lane and Armstrong Road.
Two other agents guarded the driveway to the residence, keeping all pedestrians and motorists off the property and questioning anyone who went near the driveway.
Khan represented the Lodi Muslim Mosque for three years as imam, equivalent of the Christian term "pastor." Khan's former role at the mosque is not clear. Mohammad Shoaib, who took over as mosque president in November 2003, said he fired Khan in January. Others at the mosque claim that Khan was never the imam in the first place.
Khan is now the leader in the effort to build the Farooqia Islamic Center, including a school for children up to fourth grade, south of Lodi on Lower Sacramento Road.
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Ahmed has been imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque since Khan left the mosque leadership.
Kice would not disclose where Ahmed and Khan are being jailed.
Sacramento County jail records indicated a Shabbir Ahmed was in custody, however, it is not clear if he is the imam of the Lodi mosque. No record of Khan could be found.
The U.S. Attorney's Office referred calls to Kice.
She and Cauthen declined to disclose any further details on the case except that Khan and Ahmed have the opportunity to appear before an immigration judge. Typically, it takes several days to get a court date, Kice said.
Immigration is a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Modesto attorney Gary Nelson, who is representing Khan and others affiliated with Farooqia Islamic Center in a civil suit filed against them by the Lodi Muslim Mosque, said late Tuesday afternoon he was unaware of the arrests.
People active at the mosque and the Farooqia Islamic Center said Tuesday they didn't know what happened.
Shoaib, who was seen talking to an FBI agent Tuesday afternoon in front of Ahmed's residence, said the only question the FBI asked him was if he was the mosque president.
On Acacia Street on Tuesday afternoon, two unmarked cars used by FBI agents partially blocked the area in front of the residence being searched. One was a silver Ford Crown Victoria; the other was a white Ford Excursion SUV.
A man fixing a broken front window at the front of the residence said authorities arrived at the house Tuesday morning.
The man, who declined to give his name, said he did not know why authorities were at the back house, nor did he see anything that gave an indication of why they were there.
It is not clear how many FBI agents were searching Ahmed's residence or the home on Acacia Street. At least two agents stood in front of each residence to respond to inquiries from the community.
Later Tuesday evening, paramedics were called to the rear house for an 11-year-old girl who was dehydrated, said Lodi Fire Capt. Sandy Wichman.
Paramedics were able to handle the call so after seeing the girl, who was outside in a hammock surrounded by civilians, fire crews left the scene, Wichman said.
Lodi police officials knew FBI agents were working within city limits, but said they knew nothing about the actual investigation or any arrests.
Several ranking officers referred reporters to the Sacramento FBI office and supplied a phone number that had been given them.
The only local police involvement came in the form of marked police cars, said Capt. Larry Manetti, who was in charge of the department Tuesday. Chief Jerry Adams was out of the office.
"We had no part in the case. The only assistance we provided was marked units in the area while they served search warrants," Manetti said.
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2005/06/08/news/1_islamic_050608.txt
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158880,00.html
This shit is crazy..60,000 people live here...it makes you think..
Federal agents have arrested four Lodi men, including a father and son believed to have connections to an al-Qaida training camp.
Hamid Hayat, 22, of Lodi, is accused in a federal criminal complaint of training in an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan. His father, 47-year-old Umer Hayat, a Lodi ice cream truck driver, is charged in the complaint with lying about his son's involvement and his own financing of the terror camp.
Federal agents stand by as a residence on Acacia Street is searched following arrests made earlier in the week. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)
Also arrested were two leaders of the Lodi Muslim Mosque, Shabbir Ahmed, imam of the mosque, and Mohammad Adil Khan. They were arrested on immigration charges.
Hamid Hayat is accused of going to the training camp to learn "how to kill Americans" and then lying to FBI agents about it. His training included explosives and weapons instruction and using photographs of President Bush as targets, court documents indicate.
Late Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the arrests of the Hayats came after the younger man was discovered aboard a San Francisco-bound plane even though his name appeared on a "No Fly" list of suspected extremists.
At the time, according to an FBI affidavit, Hayat was returning to the U.S. after having visited Pakistan. According to the affidavit, he told agents that after attending al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004, he was given his pick of where to carry out his terrorist mission, The Times reported.
"Hamid advised that he specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his jihadi mission," the affidavit says, according to the Times. "Potential targets for attack would include hospitals and large food stores."
Both Hamid and Umer Hayat are U.S. citizens and both made a brief initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski. Both are being held in the Sacramento County Jail pending further court proceedings.
Khan and Shabbir Ahmed were arrested after they met separately with Umer Hayat in the predawn hours Saturday.
Neither Khan nor Ahmed was arrested on any criminal charges, according to Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"It's unfortunate," Nasim Khan, former mosque president, said after hearing about the arrests of Khan and Ahmed. "These are guys who've been doing good work in the community."
Mohammad Adil Khan
Meanwhile on Tuesday, FBI agents searched Ahmed's house on Poplar Street, next door to the Lodi Muslim Mosque, and another house in the 300 block of Acacia Street, about four blocks from the mosque.
The house on Acacia, just east of Washington Street, has two residences. The family living in the portion of the house closest to the street was not involved in the FBI search.
It is not clear if the searches were related to the arrests.
The family whose residence was searched had just returned from a four-month stay in Pakistan, said Les Kolb, who lives across the street from the Acacia Street house that was being searched.
The residents are very cordial neighbors and had never been a problem, he added.
Agents at the scene and at the FBI office in Sacramento would not disclose what they were doing in Lodi Tuesday.
On Tuesday evening, at least a half-dozen FBI agents searched Khan's residence at 12828 N. Lower Sacramento Road, between Harney Lane and Armstrong Road.
Two other agents guarded the driveway to the residence, keeping all pedestrians and motorists off the property and questioning anyone who went near the driveway.
Khan represented the Lodi Muslim Mosque for three years as imam, equivalent of the Christian term "pastor." Khan's former role at the mosque is not clear. Mohammad Shoaib, who took over as mosque president in November 2003, said he fired Khan in January. Others at the mosque claim that Khan was never the imam in the first place.
Khan is now the leader in the effort to build the Farooqia Islamic Center, including a school for children up to fourth grade, south of Lodi on Lower Sacramento Road.
XXXXX
Ahmed has been imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque since Khan left the mosque leadership.
Kice would not disclose where Ahmed and Khan are being jailed.
Sacramento County jail records indicated a Shabbir Ahmed was in custody, however, it is not clear if he is the imam of the Lodi mosque. No record of Khan could be found.
The U.S. Attorney's Office referred calls to Kice.
She and Cauthen declined to disclose any further details on the case except that Khan and Ahmed have the opportunity to appear before an immigration judge. Typically, it takes several days to get a court date, Kice said.
Immigration is a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Modesto attorney Gary Nelson, who is representing Khan and others affiliated with Farooqia Islamic Center in a civil suit filed against them by the Lodi Muslim Mosque, said late Tuesday afternoon he was unaware of the arrests.
People active at the mosque and the Farooqia Islamic Center said Tuesday they didn't know what happened.
Shoaib, who was seen talking to an FBI agent Tuesday afternoon in front of Ahmed's residence, said the only question the FBI asked him was if he was the mosque president.
On Acacia Street on Tuesday afternoon, two unmarked cars used by FBI agents partially blocked the area in front of the residence being searched. One was a silver Ford Crown Victoria; the other was a white Ford Excursion SUV.
A man fixing a broken front window at the front of the residence said authorities arrived at the house Tuesday morning.
The man, who declined to give his name, said he did not know why authorities were at the back house, nor did he see anything that gave an indication of why they were there.
It is not clear how many FBI agents were searching Ahmed's residence or the home on Acacia Street. At least two agents stood in front of each residence to respond to inquiries from the community.
Later Tuesday evening, paramedics were called to the rear house for an 11-year-old girl who was dehydrated, said Lodi Fire Capt. Sandy Wichman.
Paramedics were able to handle the call so after seeing the girl, who was outside in a hammock surrounded by civilians, fire crews left the scene, Wichman said.
Lodi police officials knew FBI agents were working within city limits, but said they knew nothing about the actual investigation or any arrests.
Several ranking officers referred reporters to the Sacramento FBI office and supplied a phone number that had been given them.
The only local police involvement came in the form of marked police cars, said Capt. Larry Manetti, who was in charge of the department Tuesday. Chief Jerry Adams was out of the office.
"We had no part in the case. The only assistance we provided was marked units in the area while they served search warrants," Manetti said.
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2005/06/08/news/1_islamic_050608.txt
-------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158880,00.html
This shit is crazy..60,000 people live here...it makes you think..
