War on Terror FBI agents uncover al-Qaeda arms scheme here

By Kelly Thornton UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

November 6, 2002

A plot to supply anti-aircraft missiles to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network was uncovered by FBI agents in San Diego who learned of a heroin-for-arms scheme during a routine drug investigation.

Agents posing as drug lords followed the case to Hong Kong, where the deal was consummated. As a result, two Pakistanis and an Indian-born U.S. citizen are in custody there awaiting extradition to San Diego to face charges of drug smuggling and providing resources to terror groups. At least one of the men lived in San Diego.

The indictment – the first terrorism crime charged in San Diego in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks – is scheduled to be unsealed in San Diego today. A morning news conference is planned in Washington, D.C., with Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

"This is a very significant case; this shows the importance of the San Diego connection as far as Middle Eastern terrorist activities," a federal source said. "I mean, these guys were seriously looking to buy missiles. The agents risked their lives for this case."

The men in custody, identified by Hong Kong authorities as Pakistanis Syed Mustajab Shah and Muhammed Abid Afridi and naturalized U.S. citizen Ilyas Ali, are accused of seeking to sell or trade a half-ton of heroin and 5 tons of hashish for four Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

"Based on remarks made to the FBI agents, it is believed that the defendants intended to deliver the Stinger missile systems to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely the al-Qaeda," the Hong Kong Justice Department said in a statement.

The Stinger is an American-made, shoulder-launched guided missile designed for attacking aircraft at low altitude, possibly during takeoff or landing.

The three men were arrested by Hong Kong police Sept. 20 in cooperation with the FBI. They appeared in court yesterday and opposed extradition to San Diego. Hong Kong, a former British colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, has an extradition agreement with the United States, though Beijing does not.

The case was postponed until Nov. 15 to allow time for U.S. authorities to provide the formal extradition request and supporting documents, the statement said.

It's unclear which of the men lived in San Diego or for how long. Authorities declined to discuss the case yesterday, though further details are expected to be released today.

The men are not believed to have direct connections to any of the 19 hijackers who crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, sources said.

United States officials and lawmakers have long suspected that heroin and opium profits support al-Qaeda's terrorist activity. The officials have pointed to the vast poppy fields of Afghanistan – which supply at least 75 percent of the world's heroin – as a way to fund attacks, launder money and wreak social havoc on the West.

It is believed by some members of the intelligence community that bin Laden turned to heroin years ago as a powerful weapon in his war against the West. Authorities said bin Laden has recruited major opium and heroin dealers and big landowners in Afghanistan and Pakistan to wage a war supported by drug profits.

Just days before the Sept. 11 attacks, British Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed that 90 percent of the heroin sold on British streets comes from Afghanistan and profits are used to fund terrorism.

Three of the Sept. 11 hijackers visited or lived in San Diego during 2000, and four Middle Eastern men attending local colleges were arrested as material witnesses in the terror investigation because of their association with the hijackers. However, they and others who have also fallen under suspicion have been charged with immigration violations, not terrorism.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002

Answers

Give up illicit drug use to protect your country. [Yeah right. Like that's gonna stop em.]

Are there really any poppy fields left in Afghanistan? I would think that we have obliterated them all by now. Although, I suppose they can replant them. when did it rain last there?

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002