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August 11, 2006

UK: Muslim Charity In Britain Helped Fund The Air Terror Plot

The Pakistan Daily Times has a disturbing news item, ignored in Britain's mainstream media, which casts further doubt about the integrity of some of the Muslim charities in Britain.

We reported that 24 suspects had been arrested in Britain in connection with the major terror plot to use suicide bombers to down aircraft travelling to the United States. The Italian news agency AKI reported that Pakistani authorities announced that two British citizens were recently arrested in Pakistan, in connection with the plot. "The two British citizens were arrested 8-10 days ago, one in Karachi and the other in Lahore," a statement claimed. The men had travelled to Pakistan from Britain, and had already made their farewell martyrdom tapes.

Now the Daily Times reveals that the two men, and also a third man of Kashmiri origin who lived in Islamabad, received large donations from a British charity. These donations were to be used for financing the plot to bring down the planes with liquid explosives.

The donations of money were sent in three transactions from the British-based charity Muslim Charity, Registered Charity No. 1078488, which is based in Retford, Nottingham. The money transactions were headed "Earthquake Relief" and ostensibly were to assist in the relief of victims of the earthquake of October 8 last year, which particularly affected Pakistani Kashmir.

The transactions were sent to the three individuals at three separate banks, the Saudi Pak Bank, Standard Chartered and Habib Bank Ltd.

Standard Chartered is a London-based international bank. The Daily Times states that this bank has a branch in Azad Kashmir because there are many Britons of Kashmiri descent. The transfers were made to the three branches via Barclays Bank. The two arrested British suspects are Kashmiri in origin.

Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had their attention drawn to these large transactions by the British National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit. After being arrested, the three suspects gave information which revealed their involvement in the bombing plan, and gave away key points of information concerning this plot. An expert in money laundering was among those interrogating them, and further details emerged of how funds were being shifted both in Britain and Pakistan.

A senior Pakistani government official said: "Had we been even slightly complacent, the perpetrators of this plot might have been able to carry out their operations without little or no problem in the UK because of two broad reasons."

"Pakistani anti-terrorism agency counterparts abroad have been showing a lot of trust in our skills and abilities and none of our reports has so far been challenged by them."

The money which had been sent to Azad Kashmir was transferred in December at the end of last year. The official claimed: "Neither the amount nor the purpose for which money was sent caused any concern in the British investigation unit. What raised alarm among British sleuths specialising in finances was the fact that the entire money was remitted to three individuals, not to any organisation or organisations involved in the relief work."

The exact amount was not specified. A senior Pakistani banker said of the discovery of terror links with the transactions: "This was mainly due to the cooperation of the three banks through which money was transferred to these suspects,"

But there now remains a large question. Did the charity transfer funds to the three individuals in the knowledge that the money was not going to be used to assist earthquake victims? Were they duped by individuals posing as "agents"? If the charity was duped, then is it safe to donate money to a charity which does not track the ultimate benificiaries of donations?

It is a sad fact that many Muslim charities have been shown to sponsor terrorism. The charity Sanabel Relief Agency (Charity number 1083469) which also operated under the name Al-Rahama Relief Foundation Ltd, and had branches in Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Manchester and London, was designated by the United States Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control as a sponsor of terrorism in February this year. The Treasury stated that Sanabel Relief was a front for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)

The charity continued its work until May this year, when we reported that arrests had been made of one of its directors, 44-year old Tahir Nasuf, accused with six others of sponsoring and plotting suicide attacks in Iraq.

Even the BBC recently screened a documentary by John Ware, in which the UK charity Interpal was shown to have raised money for charities which were fronts for Hamas, and how one of its senior members, Mohammed Kassem Sawalha knowingly raised money for Hamas "charities". Sawalha is a senior figure in the Muslim Association of Britain and has links with the Muslim Brotherhood.

On August 22, 2003, Interpal was designated by the US Treasury, who said: "Interpal, headquartered in the UK, has been a principal charity utilized to hide the flow of money to HAMAS. Reporting indicates it is the conduit through which money flows to HAMAS from other charities, e.g., the Al Aqsa Foundation, and that it oversees the activities of other charities. For example, the Sanabil Association for Relief and Development represents Interpal in Lebanon. Reporting also indicates that Interpal is the fundraising coordinator of HAMAS, a coordination point for other HAMAS-affiliated charities. This role is of the type that includes supervising activities of charities, developing new charities in targeted areas, instructing how funds should be transferred from one charity to another, and even determining public relations policy."

My transcript of the BBC documentary on Interpal is nearly complete and shall be posted shortly.

Globally, there is a problem, when some Islamic charites are innocent, some are deliberately supporters of terrorism, and others are unintentiionally exploited by terrorists. Defining whether a charity is a sponsor of terror can be a matter of argument. The Holy Land Foundation supported terrorism, and helped to fund CAIR in the US, but others argue it did not intentionally sponsor terrorism. SImilar arguments have been put forward concerning Al Haramain, which was a Saudi based charity. Since March 2002, the US and Saudi Arabia jointly designated several of its branches for terrorism support and sponsorship, including Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Somalia, and Tanzania.

Some terror charities, such as the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS or Jamiat Ihia Al- Turath Al-Islamiya) are able to operate legally. It operates from its base in Kuwait, while being designated by the US State Department since Jan 9, 2002. In Bangladesh, this group, which aims to destabilise countries that can be pushed towards becoming "Islamist" received donations from the government on November 29 last year, to build mosques and madrassas. This group helped sponsor the attacks upon Bangladesh on August 17 last year, when bombs went off in 63 of the country's 64 districts.

On August 3 last week, the US designated the Philippine and Indonesian branch offices of the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) , for fundraising for AL Qaeda. The Saudi-based organisation, founded in 1978, has branch offices in 20 other nations.

Other charities in Britain with questionable records include the Islamic Relief Agency (IRA) or Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), based in Birmingham, which has been given money by Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens, which led to the singer being barred entry into the US. Arutz Sheva reported that Israeli authorities detained a UK citizen in May this year. Iyaz Ali admitted transferring funds and assisting Hamas institutions and groups, including Al Wafa and Al Tzalah, both of which are officially illegal in Israel.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: "Incriminating files were found on Ali's computer, including documents that attested to the organization's ties with illegal Hamas funds abroad (in the UK and in Saudi Arabia) and in Nablus. Also found were photographs of swastikas superimposed on IDF symbols, of senior Nazi German officials, of Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as well as many photographs of Hamas military activities."

Yet Ali and his charity, which was founded in 1984 by Dr Hany El Banna, maintains its innocence. For more details see here.

Keyword: The name of the UK police operation on this plot is Operation Overt

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 11, 2006 11:12 PM

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Posted by: seeteufel at August 12, 2006 7:22 PM

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