-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! FBI: Airport Solicitors Funded Terror NewsMax.com Wires Thursday, March 1, 2001 LOS ANGELES (UPI) – A well-dressed group of Iranian expatriates who solicited Asian travelers at the Los Angeles airport for donations to humanitarian relief were funneling money to a violent terrorist group in Iraq, the FBI said Wednesday in announcing the arrest of seven people. The group of seven that represented itself in the corridors of Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX, as Committee of Human Rights in Iran was actually a cell of the Mujahedin-E Khalq, or MEK, which raised as much as $10,000 a day to buy weapons, the FBI announced. "Our investigation uncovered this cell of the MEK and led to yesterday's arrest," FBI Special Agent James V. Desarno told reporters. MEK has been in existence since 1965. It opposed the government headed by the Shah, which was overthrown in 1979, and the Islamic regime that seized power that year in Tehran. "From the 1970s through the 1990s, the MEK staged terrorist attacks inside Iran and killed several U.S. military personnel and civilians," the FBI said in a release. "The MEK also participated in the takeover in 1979 of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran." More recently, MEK has been based in neighboring Iraq and has been concerned more with propaganda rather than its occasional commando raids inside Iran. Desarno said that MEK was a terrorist organization, and the money raised by the Los Angeles suspects allegedly was used to buy mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and other munitions. Travelers landing at LAX, mainly people of Asian origin, were approached by the suspects, who were dressed in business suits and carried photographs of starving children and victims of atrocities allegedly committed by the Iranian government. Desarno said the unwary travelers were "aggressively solicited" for donations for humanitarian aid. "They also aggressively solicited members of the Iranian community for donations," he said. Desarno said it was possible that the suspects, who were arraigned in federal court Wednesday, did not know the money they collected was used for alleged terrorist activities. However, the fact they were acting on behalf of MEK put them on the wrong side of U.S. law. "They are part of the same organization," Desarno said. "Anyone involved in the support of a terrorist group is, in fact, a member of the terrorist group." The arrests were the result of an investigation, dubbed Operation Eastern Money, that began three years ago as an offshoot of a money-laundering probe by German police, Desarno said. The group allegedly transferred more than $1 million to two Turkish bank accounts, while $400,000 was wired to an auto parts store in the United Arab Emirates. "This transfer did not appear to be related to humanitarian relief," the FBI said. The suspects, all from Los Angeles, were identified as Tahmineh Tahamtan, 39; Mustafa Ahmady, 46; Hossein Afshari, 43; Ali Reza Moradi, 30; Hassan Rezai, 46; Najaf Eshkoftegi, 50, and Mohammad Omidvar, 44. Desarno said the investigation was continuing into similar solicitation campaigns in other U.S. cities. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
