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New York Times - June 7, 2006
U.S. citizen is indicted in terror conspiracy
By Anemona hartocollis and Al Baker
An American citizen who once lived and attended college in New York City was indicted today on charges of conspiring to send money and military gear to al Qaeda associates who lived in Pakistan, the United States attorney's office in Manhattan said.
The defendant, Syed Hashmi, 26, was arrested in London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday night, as he was trying to board a flight to Pakistan, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement officials said the arrest of Mr. Hashmi reinforced their belief that New York was a nexus in a web of worldwide terrorist activity. Mr. Hashmi had an address in Flushing, Queens, until about three years ago, and graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in political science, officials said.
Officials said Mr. Hashmi was a member of al Muhajiroun, a London-based group that is active in New York. Investigators have characterized al Muhajiroun as a religious group largely made up of devout Muslims. A small number of them have been involved in terrorist activity. The group has been connected to the Finsbury Park Mosque in London.
Between January 2004 and May 2006, Mr. Hashmi and at least one other man who has previously been arrested in New York conspired to provide "material support or resources" to members of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization, according to the federal grand jury.
Prosecutors refused yesterday to name the other man. But law enforcement sources said that Mr. Hashmi had become acquainted with another Queens man, Mohammed Junaid Babar, who was taken into custody in Queens in April 2004, through his association with al Muhajiroun.
The New York Police Department and the Joint Terrorist Task Force have monitored the activities of Al Muhajiroun, which officials said had supposedly disbanded as of last year.
According to the indictment, military gear was to be transported to al Qaeda associates in South Waziristan, Pakistan. The gear — the indictment did not specify what kind — was to be used by al Qaeda to fight against United States forces in Afghanistan, according to the charges.
The terrorist conspiracy charged in the indictment was based in London, law enforcement officials said, but Mr. Hashmi was charged in the United States because he is an American citizen.
Mr. Hamshi appeared in Magistrate Court on Bow Street in London today and was jailed pending proceedings that will seek to extradite him to the United States, prosecutors in New York said. He refused to consent to extradition, speaking only to confirm his name and date of birth….
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/nyregion/07cnd-terror.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1149739200&en=4727582d57e7219c&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin
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