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Agents Search Local Islamic Relief Group - Muslimah - 10-22-2004
Agents search local Islamic relief group
By KELLY WIESE, Associated Press
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=9927
October 13, 2004
[see full size image] FBI agents participate in a raid at the offices of the Islamic American Relief Agency at 201 E. Cherry in Columbia. Twelve different law-enforcement agencies took part in the raid, including local police departments, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. (SHAUNA BITTLE/Missourian)
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Federal and local law enforcers were searching the Islamic American Relief Agency on Wednesday as part of what the FBI described generically as a criminal investigation.
The search of the Columbia office occurred as the Bush administration accused the Sudan-based Islamic African Relief Agency of helping finance Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.
The Treasury Department directed U.S. banks to block any assets found in this country belonging to the Islamic African Relief Agency and five designated officials. The department said the group, headquartered in Khartoum, Sudan, has more than 40 offices worldwide, including one in Columbia.
People wearing FBI outfits carried computers, cardboard boxes and file cabinets out of the Islamic group's Columbia office and loaded the equipment into a white van and U-Haul truck. Among those participating in the search was a man wearing a jacket of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza would not say whether the search was connected to terrorism. He also declined to characterize the investigation, saying the federal search warrant remained under seal.
``No one's being detained, and no one has been arrested,'' Lanza said.
The search began around 2:30 p.m. and involved 11 law enforcement agencies, Lanza said. FBI agents also were searching a Columbia home, Lanza said. He declined to elaborate.
The Islamic nonprofit group was formed in 1985, according to its Web site, and among other things provides emergency relief to refugees in Afghanistan. The group also promotes aid efforts in such places as Iran, Ethiopia, Mali and Bosnia. It is located near downtown Columbia, not far from the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The group's Web site offers the chance to sponsor an overseas orphan ($30 a month will provide a one-on-one sponsorship). The Islamic organization also provides vocational training and primary health care, including immunizations, nutrition counseling, prenatal care, infection disease prevention and clean water supplies, according to its Web site.
No one answered a phone call Wednesday at the Islamic American Relief Agency.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides disaster or poverty aid to nations, awarded the Islamic American Relief Agency about $4.2 million in contracts in the 1990s for relief projects in northern Mali, USA Today reported in September 2001. The contracts were canceled in November 2000, when then-Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering wrote that continuing them ``would be contrary to the national defense and foreign policy interest of the United States.''
The Treasury Department alleged that the overseas branches of the Islamic African Relief Agency and five of its officials — all listed as being outside the United States — provided ``hundreds of thousands of dollars'' to bin Laden in 1999. Treasury also believes that as early as 2003 the group was responsible for moving money to the Palestinian territories to support terrorist activities and served ``as a conduit to Hamas in one Western European country.''
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Federal and local law enforcers were searching the Islamic American Relief Agency on Wednesday as part of what the FBI described generically as a criminal investigation.
The search of the Columbia office occurred as the Bush administration accused the Sudan-based Islamic African Relief Agency of helping finance Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.
The Treasury Department directed U.S. banks to block any assets found in this country belonging to the Islamic African Relief Agency and five designated officials. The department said the group, headquartered in Khartoum, Sudan, has more than 40 offices worldwide, including one in Columbia.
People wearing FBI outfits carried computers, cardboard boxes and file cabinets out of the Islamic group's Columbia office and loaded the equipment into a white van and U-Haul truck. Among those participating in the search was a man wearing a jacket of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza would not say whether the search was connected to terrorism. He also declined to characterize the investigation, saying the federal search warrant remained under seal.
``No one's being detained, and no one has been arrested,'' Lanza said.
The search began around 2:30 p.m. and involved 11 law enforcement agencies, Lanza said. FBI agents also were searching a Columbia home, Lanza said. He declined to elaborate.
The Islamic nonprofit group was formed in 1985, according to its Web site, and among other things provides emergency relief to refugees in Afghanistan. The group also promotes aid efforts in such places as Iran, Ethiopia, Mali and Bosnia. It is located near downtown Columbia, not far from the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The group's Web site offers the chance to sponsor an overseas orphan ($30 a month will provide a one-on-one sponsorship). The Islamic organization also provides vocational training and primary health care, including immunizations, nutrition counseling, prenatal care, infection disease prevention and clean water supplies, according to its Web site.
No one answered a phone call Wednesday at the Islamic American Relief Agency.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides disaster or poverty aid to nations, awarded the Islamic American Relief Agency about $4.2 million in contracts in the 1990s for relief projects in northern Mali, USA Today reported in September 2001. The contracts were canceled in November 2000, when then-Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering wrote that continuing them ``would be contrary to the national defense and foreign policy interest of the United States.''
The Treasury Department alleged that the overseas branches of the Islamic African Relief Agency and five of its officials — all listed as being outside the United States — provided ``hundreds of thousands of dollars'' to bin Laden in 1999. Treasury also believes that as early as 2003 the group was responsible for moving money to the Palestinian territories to support terrorist activities and served ``as a conduit to Hamas in one Western European country.''
For more info:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=9964
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=9992
Agents Search Local Islamic Relief Group - Dan - 10-23-2004
Bismillah
As Salam alaikum
This quote cracks me up:
"No one answered a phone call Wednesday at the Islamic American Relief Agency."
How can the phone be answered when the office is shut down. Subhannallah, the spin is crazy. Anything for a story.
"FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza would not say whether the search was connected to terrorism. He also declined to characterize the investigation, saying the federal search warrant remained under seal."
What would exactly be the point of even getting a search warrant then? Is it not to let the accused see the proof for the cause of the raid? Is there a lawyer in the house? Keep your eyes on this story. It will be very interesting to observe it unfold.
As Salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu
Agents Search Local Islamic Relief Group - Muslimah - 10-23-2004
I think it will be really interesting yes...sobhan Allah one more occaison just as usual.
Agents Search Local Islamic Relief Group - Muslimah - 04-27-2005
Bismillah
as salam alykom
Dan do u have any news on this issue, care to know the developments tried to make a searc didnt come up with anything
sobhan Allah the situation is just a replica of many other situations everywhere.
Agents Search Local Islamic Relief Group - Dan - 04-28-2005
Bismillah
As Salam alaikum
It is funny that you ask because this past Sunday I just read a kind of update article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch (in case you want to read the whole thing... it is worth it... I guess [img]style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img] ).
Basically, some guy worked for IARA years ago and later in life bought a phone for Osama. So years later, the US government decides to act upon this "great threat" and shut down an organization that helped ophans in need. What it comes down to is that there are really no answers as to why it was so imperitive to close IARA at that moment. It either should have happened earlier when it would have seemed more legit or just not at all and let muslims help one another. It is just all so silly.
As Salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu
Agents Search Local Islamic Relief Group - Muslimah - 04-28-2005
Bismillah
as salam alykom
Jazakum Allah khairan for your reply, so the end result is that is it still closed.
Dan I know I am talking to the off topic officer in charge [img]style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img]
But u know why these things are happening? we need to correct our intention while doing Jihad Dan. I was watching, no trying to watch Hosni on a TV interview that was supposed to be crucial. He was talking about the first air strike he led in 73, not once he said Alhamdulelah for the victory, not once he said Alhamdulelah. He was saying that military tactic of withdrwal could not be applied to avoid much loss rather than avoiding Allah' anger. Allah Warned us not to withdraw in a battlefield
any way sorry for venting, pls give me the url I d like to read the whole thing.
Jazakum Allah khairan [img]style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img]