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| NJ: Islamic cleric charged with smuggling |
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| ahmer |
| 07/22/02 at 19:13:22 |
| Islamic cleric charged with smuggling Feds: Jersey City man was taking cash to Egypt Thursday, July 18, 2002 BY BRIAN MURRAY AND ROBERT RUDOLPH Star-Ledger Staff An Islamic cleric from Jersey City has been arrested by federal agents on charges he conspired to smuggle more than a half-million dollars in U.S. currency out of the country by hiding the cash in his parents' airplane luggage. The money -- $659,000 in $20, $50 and $100 bills --was secreted in boxes of Ritz crackers, baby wipes and Quaker Oats packed in bags that the suspect's parents had checked on a flight to Egypt, according to federal court papers filed in Newark yesterday. The money was seized in the wake of an ongoing investigation in which the key suspect, Alaa Al-Sadawi, was secretly tape recorded making preparations to transport the funds, the court papers say. Al-Sadawi's parents were arrested April 30 when U.S. Customs agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport found the cash in their luggage. Because of the ongoing investigation, Al-Sadawi himself was not arrested until Tuesday night. He was taken into custody by government agents at the Jersey City apartment he shared with his parents. Al-Sadawi was described in court papers as an Egyptian national who gained U.S. citizenship less than two weeks ago and had applied for a U.S. passport that was to become available yesterday. Authorities said he had been booked to leave on a flight to Egypt last night. After an initial court appearance in Newark yesterday, Al-Sadawi was being held without bail. Al-Sadawi, also known as El-Saadawi, is a fundamentalist Muslim cleric regarded as an imam, or holy man, within the Muslim community in North Jersey, according to several federal law enforcement sources. Last night at the El Tawheed Islamic Center on West Side Avenue in Jersey City, worshipers emerging from prayer recognized Al-Sadawi as an imam who occasionally said prayers at the mosque. Federal authorities would not disclose the source of the funds seized at the airport, or divulge other details of the investigation. Asked if the case is part of the government's investigation into terrorism, authorities said only that the probe into the alleged smuggling scheme is continuing. Documents filed in federal court quoted an associate of Al-Sadawi warning the suspect's father not to mention his son's name because "they'll say the money is to finance terrorism and he will be jailed." The associate referred to Al-Sadawi as "Sheik Alaa," using a Muslim religious title. Al-Sadawi has been charged with a single count of violating U.S. currency laws by conspiring to transport more than $10,000 in cash out of the country without reporting it. The suspect's parents are under house arrest charged with attempting to transport the cash out of the country without reporting it. Al-Sadawi's associate, identified as Abdel Moniem Soliman, was arrested and charged with a similar violation of currency laws. The arrests were made public yesterday during a hearing in federal court in Newark, during which Al-Sadawi was ordered held without bail by U.S. Magistrate G. Donald Haneke. Al-Sadawi was represented by a federal public defender, Andrea Bergman, who stated only that her client would not contest his extradition to federal court in Brooklyn, where authorities are coordinating the investigation. During the brief hearing in Newark, Al-Sadawi was advised of his rights through an interpreter and did not speak other than to acknowledge that he understood the judge's statements. As outlined in court documents, government wiretaps "make it clear" that Al-Sadawi was engaged in a conspiracy to smuggle a large amount of cash out of the country. The tape recounted plans for Al-Sadawi's associate, Soliman, to pick up a bag containing the money. On tape, Soliman complained that most of the cash was in "small change" and that he was "going crazy" trying to consolidate it into a more compact form. On April 30, authorities allege, Soliman delivered the bag to Kennedy airport, where it was added to the luggage of Al-Sadawi's father, Hassan Fahmi Abrahim Ahmed Al-Sadawi, and mother, Afaf Al-Sayed Amin. The luggage was intercepted by U.S. Customs inspectors, who discovered the concealed cash. After questioning by Customs inspectors, the couple was handcuffed and detained. Documents quoted the father as telling the wife in Arabic: "It's your son that got us into this trouble." According to the FBI complaint against Al-Sadawi, the father told agents that it was Soliman who had delivered the money bag to him, and said he had agreed to bring the bag to Soliman's brother in Egypt. The father, authorities said, then allowed agents to tape record a call to Soliman in which Soliman agreed to return to the airport to retrieve the bag. It was during that conversation that Soliman allegedly warned the father about bringing up Al-Sadawi's name to government agents. |
| Re: NJ: Islamic cleric charged with smuggling |
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| ltcorpest2 |
| 07/23/02 at 19:12:25 |
| was secreted in boxes of Ritz crackers. I love Ritz crackers, but have not found any money in them yet. but i am going out to by some right now. Kinda sad when you put your parents into this type of situation. One side question, when someone is called an Islamic Cleric, what excatly does that mean, are they accredited somwhere specifically or can anyone claim to be a cleric? Al-Sadawi was represented by a federal public defender, Andrea Bergman, who stated only that her client would not contest his extradition to federal court in Brooklyn, where authorities are coordinating the investigation. why does he have a public defender if he has enough money to put $659,000.00 in someone's suitcase? |
| Re: NJ: Islamic cleric charged with smuggling |
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| jannah |
| 07/23/02 at 23:21:11 |
| good question... my fear is that they are out to get every 'islamic cleric' out there on any and every small charge they can.. hence the wiretapping and spies and everything else.. one little misstep and you're in jail. immigration laws, customs laws, next they'll be looking at cable boxes of course.. illegal perhaps.. witch hunt...undoubtedly |
| Re: NJ: Islamic cleric charged with smuggling |
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| ltcorpest2 |
| 07/24/02 at 12:41:27 |
| my fear is that they are out to get every 'islamic cleric' out there on any and every small charge they can.. every small charge? how many people do you know that can get together $659,000.00 in small bills and then have the gaul and the stupidity to place it in their parents baggage? Why would someone risk their parents freedom? They were not out to get him, they found the money in his parents baggage and the father told the authorities it was his son's. |
| Re: NJ: Islamic cleric charged with smuggling |
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| jannah |
| 07/24/02 at 16:11:33 |
| well if you read the article they were tipped off by the wiretaps. it's not illegal to take large amounts of money out of the country.. it's their money after all. what they didn't do was report it. maybe they thought the gov't would confiscate it over some "claims" and freeze their accounts.. oh wait they did that anyway |
| Re: NJ: Islamic cleric charged with smuggling |
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| ltcorpest2 |
| 07/24/02 at 18:59:51 |
| it's not illegal to take large amounts of money out of the country.. actually Jannah, it is illegal, You can only take $10,000.00 cash out of the country. It is no problem to wire any amount of currency overseas, assuming that it is legally obtained funds. |
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