Islamic leaders, 2 others held in California terror probe
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 Posted: 7:15 AM EDT (1115 GMT)
(CNN) -- Federal agents searched the homes of two Islamic leaders in Lodi, California, and have made four arrests since Sunday, part of an ongoing terrorism investigation, according to the FBI and witnesses.
Two of those arrested are top Muslim leaders in Lodi, including one who publicly condemned the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and issued a declaration of peace with Christian and Jewish leaders in Lodi three years ago.
The other two are a father and son, identified as 47-year-old Umer Hayat and 22-year-old Hamid Hayat. The son allegedly lied about his attendance at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Details of the investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force based in Sacramento will be made public Wednesday morning and until then officials are saying little about the case.
The two Islamic leaders -- Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed -- were detained on immigration charges and will face an immigration hearing, according to FBI Special Agent John Cauthen.
Khan is the former imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque and Ahmed is the current imam, according to Lodi News-Sentinel religion reporter Ross Farrow, who has interviewed both men in the past.
Khan has been working to establish the Farooqia Islamic Center, an Islamic charter school for young children in Lodi, Farrow said.
In the days following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Khan condemned the attacks, Farrow said. Several months later, Khan joined the leaders of local Christian churches and a synagogue to issue a Declaration of Peace condemning terrorism and stressing the common origins of each religion, Farrow said.
The Times reported that Khan and Ahmed were taken into custody after they were seen meeting with the Hayats in Lodi over the weekend.
While the FBI spokesman would not discuss the details, the Times quoted an affidavit filed in the case that said the younger Hayat failed a polygraph test Saturday in which he denied having attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan. The affidavit said he later admitted he trained there for six months in 2003 and 2004, the Times reported.
The elder Hayat was arrested for lying about giving his son a $100 monthly allowance while at the camp, the Times reported.
The father is from Pakistan and the son was born in California, according to the newspaper. |
