Middle East Student Visa Fraud ICE'd in LA

The Los Angeles office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest Monday of Eamon Daniel Higgins for conspiring to commit visa fraud. Higgins was initially charged in a one count criminal information in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana. The information charges that Higgins and other co-conspirators took exams for more than 100 alien students enrolled in southern California colleges. The tests were needed for the students to meet immigration law requirements to remain in the U.S. Per the ICE report, Higgins charged more than $1,000 per examination and did this for students from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey, and Qatar.

Sixteen of the foreign students linked to the investigation also have been arrested - six on felony immigration fraud complaints and the other 10 for deportation proceedings. Affidavits submitted in support of the criminal complaints detail how this investigation developed and how there may be more significance to the case than the seemingly routine immigration fraud.

The ICE case agent, Daniel Rocha, wrote that in October of 2007 the Daly City, California Police Department retrieved a "dropped" wallet containing various items, including seven fictitious California driver licenses all bearing the photo of a person later determined to be a nephew of Eamon Higgins. The names on the fictitious driver licenses were determined to be all foreign students who had entered the United States on student visas destined to study at schools within the Central District of California.

The investigation led to a search of Higgins' home by federal agents on December 9, 2009. There, agents seized 60 fraudulent California driver licenses bearing the photographs of Higgins and his associates, college examinations completed by Higgins, college exam notebooks and notes relating to the testing scam linked to Higgins, payment information relating to foreign students and computer evidence relating to the visa scam.

The complaint affidavit notes that Higgins, interviewed during the search warrant, admitted his involvement in the visa fraud scheme and provided details. The affidavit indicates Higgins and his co-conspirators were involved in purchasing approximately 500 counterfeit documents to further the fraud and that Higgins had communication with 150 foreign students in conjunction with the scheme. Additionally, the visa fraud allowed many of the foreign students to travel in and out of the United States on their student visas, allowing them to return to their home countries and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The FBI, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are jointly working on the ongoing investigation. While there is no reported connection to terrorism at this time, all the countries identified as countries of citizenship for the suspect aliens in this case are known special interest source countries from where radical Islamic terrorists have come.

As the 9/11 Commission so aptly described, immigration documents and visas are the lifeblood of foreign terrorists, as important to them as their weapons and training. Those who provide terrorists fraudulent access to visas and immigration status put the nation's security in dire jeopardy. Pursuing this kind of investigation and prosecution is exactly the kind of preemptive security related casework ICE should be doing.

Jihad Jane Arrested

The Department of Justice has announced the latest in a string of arrests related to terrorist recruitment on the Internet. The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel within Western countries.

LaRose, who already is being dubbed "Jihad Jane," was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill Americans in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official, and attempted identity theft. As David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, explained,

"today's indictment, which alleges that a woman from suburban America agreed to carry out murder overseas and to provide material support to terrorists, underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face."

Demonstrative of that evolution is the use of developing technologies and the changing face of terrorists.

As we reported earlier this week, the FBI has recognized that "the cyber terrorism threat is real and it is rapidly expanding." This case is just the latest example. LaRose is charged with using the Internet to recruit violent jihadist fighters and supports, and to solicit passports and funding. Discussing the use of such technologies, U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy stated "this case shows the use terrorists can and do make of the Internet."

Read the indictment here.

Hizballah Claims U.S. Influence a Threat

The Iranian proxy terrorist group Hizballah claimed over the weekend that its resistance has put an end to the Israeli threat in Southern Lebanon, but the group is still concerned over U.S. influence in the region.

According to Al Manar TV, an outlet designated by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2006 as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity, Hizballah Executive Council chief Sayyed Hashem Safieddine declared,

"We have always been highlighting and bringing to attention American influence in Lebanon, and recent talk about American influence in information and security penetration in Lebanon being the greatest threat facing Lebanon after the Zionist security threat, is because we believe that whatever America possesses is definitely and inevitably available to Israel also."

Hizballah's statements came in the midst of setbacks for the organization's public image in the Arab world. In May 2009, an article from Der Spiegel indicated that the group was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. September 2009 marked a significant public relations blow for Hizballah, after a financier closely tied to the group was discovered to be running a massive pyramid scheme. The Salah Ezzedine scandal cost investors, mainly Lebanese and Qatari Shiites, approximately $1.5 billion in losses. Ezzedine was dubbed the "Lebanese Madoff" and his Hizballah ties damaged the organization's image across the Arab world.

Since Al-Manar is the voice of Hizballah for the Arab world, it seeks to maintain an image of strength against the State of Israel as well as the Western world. Funded by the Iranian regime, the station's website frequently features articles emphasizing Israel's weakness in the face of Hizballah's military power.

Given that, it is peculiar that Hizballah admitted to a threat from America's "security penetration" into the country. But in standard Hizballah language, Safieddine dismissed the threat with the proclamation, "[We] will not allow the US to enjoy comfort or ease at the political and security penetration level, but we must demand through all available media and political means possible to understand the nature of this US security penetration."

Two New Somali-Linked Indictments Issued

An indictment was unsealed in New York Monday charging 35-year-old Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed with providing material support to the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab. The indictment also charged Ahmed with receiving military training from the group and two counts of conspiracy. Ahmed was arrested in Nigeria on Saturday and then brought to the U.S.

According to the indictment, Ahmed traveled to Al-Shabaab paramilitary camps in Somalia in April 2009 to receive jihad training, including training on bomb construction and detonation. It also alleges that Ahmed personally gave Al-Shabaab, a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), $4,088 in February 2008. Ahmed will plead not guilty at a hearing Tuesday, says his lawyer Sabrina Shroff.

The government's charges against Ahmed come shortly after last week's indictment of a Somali citizen tied to different Al-Qaeda linked Somali Islamist organization, Al-Ittihad Al-Islami (AIAI).

Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane is charged with two counts of making false statements to federal authorities. The first count alleges that Dhakane omitted his involvement with Somali commercial enterprise Al-Barakat and AIAI, both listed as Specially Designated Terrorist entities, on his 2008 application for asylum.

According to a second count, Dhakane also lied about how he got into United States. The indictment alleges that he did not disclose that he "participated in and later ran a large-scale human smuggling enterprise out of Brazil." The U.S. government says the enterprise is responsible for smuggling hundreds of AIAI affiliated Somalis and other East Africans into the United States.

The two cases add to a slew of recent U.S. government prosecutions linked to Somali Islamist terror. Last year at least 14 people were charged in federal cases related to Al-Shabaab recruitment in America.

Update – Pakistan Arrests Different American Al Qaeda Agent

Initial reports suggesting that the Pakistani government seized American-born Al Qaeda operative Adam "Azzam al-Amriki" Gadahn, have turned out to be false. Updated reports indicate that the Pakistani forces actually captured Abu Yahya Mujahideen Adam, a Pennsylvania native also fighting in the Al Qaeda-sponsored jihad in Pakistan. The initial confusion derives from the shared name de guerre, Abu Yahya, which both men adopted.

Although Abu Yahya Mujahideen Adam is not as influential a figure in the Al Qaeda leadership, his arrest is important in stopping American fighters in Pakistan. He was also arrested in Karachi, a Pakistani port where government forces have captured several other Mujahideen of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Pakistani officials also noted that Abu Yahya Mujahideen Adam has been transferred to Islamabad for interrogation, but provided no further details.

Pakistanis Claim to Arrest American Al Qaeda Member

CNN reports on conflicting accounts emerging from Pakistan, where senior government sources claim to have captured wanted American-born Al-Qaeda spokesman, Adam "Azzam Al-Amriki" Gadahn. U.S. government sources are cautioning that there is not any conclusive proof yet.

News of the arrest comes on the heels of a new Al Qaeda propaganda feature, in which Gadahn calls for other Muslim American soldiers to follow in the path of Fort Hood murderer, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Gadahn exhorted worldwide Al Qaeda operatives to follow in his footsteps, proclaiming:

"The Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers and yearns to discharge his duty to Allah and play a part in the defense of Islam and Muslims."

Gadahn also called for a rise in global terrorism, by demanding:

"This is a war which knows no international borders and no single battleground, and that's why I am calling on every honest and vigilant Muslim in the countries of the Zionist-Crusader alliance in general and America, Britain and Israel in particular to prepare to play his due role in responding to and repelling the aggression of the enemies of Islam."

In 2006, Gadahn was indicted on charges of treason and providing material support to Al Qaeda. As a senior Al Qaeda activist, the U.S. government offered a $1 million reward on information leading to his capture.

Gadahn is a powerful example of the interconnectedness of jihadi terrorist organizations and American homegrown radicalism. He converted to Islam at the Islamic Society of Orange County, California, but was banned from the mosque two years later after hitting its chairman, Haitham Bundjaki. He began working for the Orange County-based and Al Qaeda-linked "Charity Without Borders" in 1997 and was increasingly involved in radical Islam. After moving to Pakistan in 1998, he went on to be one of Al Qaeda's leading English spokesmen.

A "notorious, dubious individual on the Internet" says what?

A Chicago television news report offers a nice example of the difference in approach between those who call out Islamists for their deception and the Islamists themselves.

WLS reporter Chuck Goudie's story Wednesday focused on Sheik Kifah Mustapha's role as the Illinois State Police's first Muslim chaplain. As the Investigative Project on Terrorism first reported, Mustapha was identified by federal prosecutors as a member of a fundraising and support network for Hamas in the United States. He raised money for one arm and volunteered for a second.

Goudie's story cited the IPT report and included comments from Executive Director Steven Emerson. It also showed the court documents naming Mustapha an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) Hamas financing trial, along with a copy of a deposition Mustapha gave in which he acknowledged his volunteer work for the Islamic Association for Palestine.

The trial ended with convictions against HLF and its former officers on 108 counts. "The purpose of creating the Holy Land Foundation was as a fundraising arm for Hamas," U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis said at sentencing.

Mustapha declined to comment for the WLS report, so Ahmed Rehab from the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago office spoke for him:

"Our concern is that the Illinois State Police is kowtowing to articles online published by notorious anti-Muslims who have been in the business of smearing Muslim activists leaders and Imams for the longest time."

Smearing how? Rehab doesn't say. He certainly doesn't say the connections both IPT and WLS documented are false. Rather, he laments that "accepted leaders of this community do not have to be second guessed as a result of some notorious, dubious individual on the Internet."

Gosh, that hurts. We've noted CAIR's habit of responding to specific criticism with empty, sweeping accusations of bigotry against any and all critics. But, in this case, Rehab is the pot calling the kettle black.

As a student, he had his own web site which featured Rehab questioning the extent of the Holocaust and arguing "Jewish control over the media."

Not exactly notorious. But it's more than dubious.

FBI: Cyber Terrorism is Growing Threat

"The cyber terrorism threat is real, and it is rapidly expanding." This was the chief conclusion of FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III in a speech before the RSA Cyber Security Conference on Thursday. The remarks, given before collected cyber-security professionals, highlighted the growing threat posed by Foreign Terrorist Organizations on the World Wide Web.

As Mueller recognized, the virtualization of terrorism poses a threat to the United States and the international community on a number of fronts. Today, terrorists "are not limiting their use of the Internet to recruitment or radicalization; they are using it to incite terrorism." While there are thousands of extremist websites promoting violence and providing jihad instruction, that is only one facet of this emerging threat.

Also of concern is the use of developing technologies to undertake attacks on Western infrastructure. Demonstrative of this threat are the attacks in Estonia in 2007 and in the Republic of Georgia in 2008. "Wave after wave of data requests shut down banks and emergency phone lines, gas stations and grocery stores, even parts of each country's government."

To combat this threat, the FBI has created cyber squads in every field office, running "complex undercover operations and examin[ing] digital evidence." Additionally, the FBI will continue to reach out to both the private sector and international partners to disrupt terrorist abuse of technologies. Highlighting the effectiveness of this cooperation, Mueller pointed to an investigation last October in which the Egyptian authorities, in concert with the FBI, "dismantled a computer intrusion and money laundering scheme operating in the United States and Egypt."

Deceptive Statements Help Clear Viva Palestina in UK Charity Probe

The UK Charity Commission published the results of its inquiry into Viva Palestina (VP) this week, criticizing some of the practices of the organization that materially and politically supports the terrorist group Hamas. The investigation started a year ago due to concerns over VP's "financial governance arrangements relating to the use of funds."

Among the problems the report notes is VP originally registered itself as a charity in January 2009 to provide humanitarian aid, yet amended its constitution two months later to include its intention to also run a political campaign. According to the report, "it was not legally possible for the Charity to turn itself into a non-charitable body" under the conditions outlined in its original constitution.

The report indicates it did not find evidence VP gave money to Hamas, one of several instances in which founder and MP George Galloway's public statements turned out to be false. During the March 2009 convoy to Gaza, media reports and Galloway's public statements indicated the aid was given to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. However, Galloway told investigators that Haniyeh was not there and "'the drivers all handed their keys over to a reception committee of government ministers, government officials and non government organizations, charities, hospitals, and so on."

Galloway told investigators the £25,000 he was shown on video handing to a Hamas official was his own money, not VP's.

Additionally, the report finds that VP misled the public and its supporters about the amount of money it raised. Its website claimed more than £1 million in aid was delivered during the first convoy, yet the inquiry discovered that VP had only raised £180,000 (in cash) by March 17, 2009.

The report notes that "a charity cannot have political aims" and its trustees "must implement adequate safeguards to ensure that the Charity's representatives do not present the charity in a manner that may contribute to a perception that it is a political organization."

Although the report concludes that "from the material the Inquiry examined the Commission found no evidence that the Charity's property or money was provided to Hamas," it is plausible that the UK Charity Commission did not have access to all the materials needed in order to determine whether money and political support was given to Hamas. The Investigative Project on Terrorism has previously documented evidence to the contrary, showing that Galloway and Viva Palestina have raised money for Hamas and supported the organization in its rhetoric.

During VP's third convoy to Gaza in December, convoy members and leaders were warmly greeted by Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood officials. Palestinian media reported that the convoy prompted infighting among Hamas leaders for control over $1 million which they received from Viva Palestina. An article by the news agency the Voice of Palestine describes how Ahmad al Ja'abari, the commander of Hamas' armed wing "removed $600,000" of the money from Haniyeh's office while leaving the rest for Haniyeh.

Galloway is planning a fourth convoy to Gaza later this spring. Egypt has banned his return, so this trip may have to be made by boat.

Arizona HLF Fundraiser Sentenced to 18 Months

Akram Musa Abdallah was sentenced to 18 months in prison Thursday for lying to the FBI about his fundraising activities with HLF. The sentencing comes almost a year after Abdallah's May 2009 plea agreement in which he admitted:

"I represented to the FBI agents that I was not involved in fund raising activities for the HLF. When in fact, between approximately 1994 and 1997, I was involved in numerous fund raising activities, including collecting donations, organizing, facilitating and coordinating fund raising events on behalf of the HLF in Phoenix metropolitan area."

At the time of his 2007 interview, the government was trying to gather evidence for the upcoming HLF Hamas financing trial. In 2008, HLF and five of its officials were found guilty of illegally funneling money to Hamas. Arizona District Court Judge Neil Wake chose the lowest possible prison term specified in Abdallah's plea agreement because he did not believe that the lie hurt the government's case against HLF, even calling it "rather minor."

Judge Wake also questioned the government's case against Abdallah, saying that "the government threatened him with prosecution if he did not change his story." Barry Jonas, a federal prosecutor in the HLF case, pointed out that Abdullah still knowingly committed a federal crime. "No matter how much he insisted he was telling the truth, it wasn't true," said Jonas. "This did involve a terrorism matter," he added.

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