South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Portugal urged to extradite suspect in terrorist threats to three South Florida banks By Vanessa Blum sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbcaller1114nbnov14,0,3700193.story South Florida Sun-Sentinel November 14, 2007 Federal prosecutors are pressing the Portuguese government to turn over a man they say phoned in terrorist threats to three South Florida banks in March after a bungled bank heist. Allan Sharif, a dual citizen of the United States and Portugal, is charged with threatening to blow up the Miami Beach branch of the Commercial Bank of Florida unless he received $20,000. Later on the same day, Sharif made threatening phone calls to two other banks demanding the release of a man arrested during the robbery attempt, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. The indictment charges Sharif with one count of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction and three counts of threatening an act of terrorism. The FBI is also investigating Sharif's possible involvement in a flurry of threatening phone calls demanding money from stores and banks around the country. If convicted, Sharif, who is living in Portugal, faces a possible life sentence. U.S. officials asked the Portuguese government roughly a month ago to arrest Sharif, but he remains at large. "We are concerned because there have been accounts that he continues to engage in these activities," said U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta. "This is an individual who needs to be taken off the streets." It's not the first time U.S. officials have tried to extradite Sharif from Portugal. In 2005, he was charged in New York in a 13-count federal indictment. In that case, officials accused him of running a scheme involving fraudulent Western Union money orders. Faced with those charges, Sharif fled to Portugal, where his mother was born, and claimed citizenship. Officials at the Portuguese Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the case. The March 27 bank robbery attempt in Miami Beach began around 9:30 a.m. when a man identified by federal officials as Sharif called the bank requesting a $20,000 cash transaction. Roughly 30 minutes later, Sharif's alleged accomplice, Paulo Almeida, entered the bank carrying a cell phone and a small black suitcase. He tried to give the cell phone to a bank teller who refused to take it, according to an FBI affidavit. Sharif then called the teller directly and ordered her to put $20,000 in Almeida's suitcase, the affidavit states. "I'm watching everything you are doing," Sharif said, according to the affidavit.Once police arrived and arrested Almeida, Sharif called the bank repeatedly, threatening to detonate a bomb if he did not get his money, the indictment says. No explosives were found. Almeida pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in September and is awaiting sentencing. Under the terms of his plea deal, he agreed to cooperate with investigators. 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