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Stealing from church { November 9 2001 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14-2001Nov8.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14-2001Nov8.html
Raids Leave Customers In the Lurch
Money Transfer Firms Linked to Terrorists
By Leef Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 9, 2001; Page B01
Yousef Abukasawi put aside a chunk of his weekly paycheck from his job as a driver in Fairfax County
until he saved $1,200. It took months.
He wired the cash home to Sudan to feed and clothe his pregnant wife and baby. The money would have
supported them for seven months.
It never arrived.
Abukasawi's nest egg was included in the approximately $1 million that so far has been seized or frozen by
the federal government as it targets two financial networks -- known as Al Barakaat and Al Taqwa -- it
alleges are funding Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.
Among the businesses raided Wednesday were money-wiring operations in Falls Church and Alexandria,
where officials said unregulated international financial transactions could be linked to terrorism. Nobody in
either of the Northern Virginia businesses has been charged with a crime, and neither has been shuttered by
the government. Law enforcement sources said they know of no direct link between the two companies
and the Sept. 11 attacks.
But as the nation's war on terrorism widens, such businesses illustrate the complexity facing investigators as
they try to thwart future attacks.
"We're taking an important next step in the battle against terrorists," said Paul J. McNulty, U.S. attorney for
the Eastern District of Virginia. "Criminals need money to operate. Cutting their funding may prevent future
attacks."
But Abdulkadir Ali, owner of one of the raided Virginia businesses, said he is not a criminal and has no ties
to bin Laden or al Qaeda. He said his customers, many trying desperately to get money to their families in
time for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, are the ones suffering -- not the terrorists.
The businesses, known as hawalas, are informal exchange services, used primarily by those trying to send
money to loved ones in countries where there is no banking or formal wire transfer system.
With the closing of the small businesses, which send thousands of dollars overseas each day, many people
are now scrambling to find other ways to get money home. Some, like Abukasawi, also are struggling to
reclaim their assets.
Abukasawi didn't know why his money hadn't reached home. He just knew it wasn't there, so yesterday he
went to see Ali, owner of the hawala, called Amal Express & Gift Shop, in Falls Church. "My family
doesn't have anything to eat," Abukasawi said, demanding his $1,200. "If you're not doing legal business,
you should tell us. You have no right to put customers in the middle."
Ali, whose shop was raided because of alleged ties to the Al Barakaat conglomerate, explained that he
could not return the money because it had been frozen along with $30,000 in his company's bank account.
The $10,000 in cash he kept in his office also was taken by the FBI when agents broke down his door and
seized his computer and paper records, he said.
"If I were doing illegal business, I'd be in jail right now," Ali told his customer. "I have nothing to do with
[the terrorists]. The government claims we're sending money to al Qaeda. When they realize it isn't true,
you'll get your money back."
Aklile Woldetsadick, 21, had hoped to send money yesterday to his family in Ethiopia, but he was turned
away from Ali's shop. "I guess I'll have to go to Western Union," said Woldetsadick, who is among those
who use hawalas because they charge about half as much as American wire transferrers. "We don't have
any choice."
In fact, at least two other hawalas in Northern Virginia have not been raided.
Federal officials across the country have been watching hawalas for years, but they rarely have prosecuted
them because the charge of operating an unlicensed foreign transmittal business is hard to prove and rarely
carries significant prison time, sources said.
In particular, prosecutors must prove that the owners knew they were supposed to have a license, and --
to get much prison time -- acted in reckless disregard of the source of the transferred money and its
intended use. Usually, if prosecutors could meet that burden, they would go one step further and charge the
exchange owner with money laundering, a far more serious offense.
But when word came down from authorities leading the terrorism investigation that the money remitters
could be connected to bin Laden, these low-level probes suddenly moved to the front burner.
In addition to the offices in Northern Virginia, FBI and U.S. Customs agents raided offices of Al Barakaat
in Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle and Columbus, Ohio.
Al Barakaat was founded in 1989 by Ahmed Nur ali Jim'ale, according to officials who said he is an
associate of bin Laden and still is an owner of the network. The network operates in 40 nations.
The second hawala that was raided Wednesday remained dark yesterday. Tenants who share a suite in a
small office building in the Landmark section of Alexandria said FBI agents arrived with guns drawn and
questioned each customer who came in to wire money. Interviews with the proprietor lasted five hours,
they said.
The owners "told me they have nothing to do with any terrorist organization," said one businessman in the
building who asked not to be identified. "They said they have a license and they're just trying to do
business."
A procession of Somalis knocked on the locked office door yesterday before turning away, confused.
In Falls Church, it took Ali a half-hour to convince Abukasawi that he was unable to return the money,
lamenting, "I don't have it, brother. . . . This is America. You can follow the proper procedures if you don't
believe me. Call the authorities. They were here."
Staff writer Brooke A. Masters contributed to this report.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
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