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U.S. alleges Muslim activist has Libyan tiesFounder of group that vets Islamic chaplains arrested
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. citizen with ties to several American Muslim groups was in federal custody Monday after allegations that he has had prohibited dealings with Libya, according to a criminal complaint.
Agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI took Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi into custody Sunday as he returned to the United States at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, officials said. A government source said Alamoudi was returning from London, England, when he was taken into custody. The criminal complaint charges that in December 1999, November 2000 and August 2001, Alamoudi did "willfully attempt to violate the International Economic Emergency Powers Act," which imposed sanctions on commerce with Libya in 1986 in the wake of a series of terrorist airport bombings. Michael Mason, head of the FBI field office in Washington, said Alamoudi was arrested without a warrant but with probable cause. It is an "important arrest," Mason said. Dealings in TripoliFederal agents say in the complaint that in August, British customs agents stopped Alamoudi at London's Heathrow Airport while he was trying to board a flight to Damascus, Syria. They discovered $340,000 in cash. Alamoudi told them he had arranged a sizable cash donation for the American Muslim Foundation on his trip to London, the complaint says. He told the British officials that had received the money in his London hotel room after getting a funding commitment from the Islamic Call Society on his last visit to Tripoli. U.S. authorities consider the Islamic Call Society an agency controlled by the Libyan government. According to the complaint, Alamoudi told the British officials that he had traveled to Libya at least 10 times to negotiate financing for the foundation. Alamoudi told officers that he intended to deposit the $340,000 in Saudi Arabian banks, "from where he would feed it back in smaller sums into accounts in the United States," reads the complaint. He explained what the complaint terms the "surreptitious transaction" by saying he thought it was illegal to possess more than $10,000 when entering or leaving the United States. He also told the British agents that he had been involved in similar cash transactions for sums in the range of $10,000 to $20,000. Travels with a Yemen passportThe complaint also alleges that Alamoudi used a Yemen passport issued in Washington with entry and exit stamps that indicate he traveled to and from Libya regularly between May 2002 and July of this year. The average length of stay for the visits was five days, according to the complaint. Washington says the Libyan government reimbursed him for his travel. Upon his return from London on Sunday, Alamoudi indicated in a U.S. customs form that he had visited England and Saudi Arabia. However, an examination by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found him in possession of a Yemen passport that indicated trips to Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Yemen in the past two months, according to the complaint. Alamoudi appeared Monday afternoon before a federal magistrate in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, but did not enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail pending a detention hearing Tuesday. Alamoudi is a founder of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council, which is authorized to evaluate Muslim candidates for chaplain positions in the U.S. military. He is a board member and former executive director of the American Muslim Council. Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York told reporters this month that the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council is under investigation by the Justice Department on allegations of supporting terrorism. He also said the group trained an Army Muslim chaplain who was taken into custody by U.S. military authorities September 10 at the naval air station in Jacksonville, Florida, while in possession of classified documents. Army Capt. James Yee worked at the military's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where about 600 al Qaeda and other "enemy combatants" are being held by the military. Yee is being investigated on suspicion of espionage but has not been charged with any crime. Lawyers representing Alamoudi said they could not comment on the case because they had just been handed the complaint, but they did say the arrest surprised their client. Several officials familiar with Alamoudi's case said the investigation goes well beyond anything relating to his travel. Alamoudi has been under investigation for some time as part of a broad probe into a series of Muslim charities and groups, most of them based in the northern Virginia area, officials said. Investigators have been looking into whether funds from these groups might have ended up in the coffers of terrorism organizations. Offices of several of the groups were searched in March 2002. Officials from many of the groups deny the allegations and say no arrests have been made stemming from the searches.
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