Day: December 16, 2010

Illinois: More Muslim immigrants busted in fraud case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I guess we should be thanking the Obama Administration for its crackdown on fraud that rips off the taxpayer.  I have so many crime bust stories this morning, I’m probably boring you.  (Here and here are my previous posts).

This one is from Rockford, IL and it involves the sale of knock-offs—items of clothing that carry phony brand-names.  The news report isn’t clear, but it looks like the items sold in a small grocery store, were being purchased with food stamp cards.

From WIFR.com:

ROCKFORD (WIFR) — Yesterday federal and local law enforcement officers arrested three Rockford residents on federal charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods, and four Rockford residents on charges of wire fraud, and today, one more Rockford resident was arrested on the charge of wire fraud.

The charges announced today were the result of an investigation that began in June 2009.

In June 2009, law enforcement had been notified that several stores in Rockford were believed to be selling counterfeit Nike products. Only licensed retailers may cell certain trademarked brands.

[….]

The three Rockford men charged in complaints with trafficking in counterfeit goods ARE: Mohammad Hamad, 42, Mohammad Hariz, 19, and Abdul Hariz, 21.

The four Rockford men charged in complaints with wire fraud are: Nassir Ali, 41, Haitham Hariz, 24, Abdulaziz Saeed Abdullah Mohammed, 36, Kassim Hariz, 44, AND Saleh Quhshi, 37.

E-2 Treaty Investors?  Or, refugees just doing well in America?   Knowing how difficult it is to find employment and how out of reach it is to actually own a store, don’t you wonder where these guys are getting the seed money for their ventures.  I sure hope Obama’s security agencies are working on tracking the start-up money.

Georgia, yet another food stamp fraud story this morning

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just when I thought I could move on to other stuff, comes another case of food stamp fraud involving an immigrant-owned convenience store.  At least there doesn’t appear to be a terrorist connection as in my previous report.    I’m posting this one in case new readers aren’t sure how the scam is done.  This alleged scammer was generous though—most in the food stamp rip-off business do a 50-50 deal.

From the Albany Herald:

Mayurkumar Patel, 31, was arrested at his father’s 701 N. Jefferson St. Downtown Eatery and More convenience store and restaurant at about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, said Greg Edwards, Dougherty District Attorney.

By 6 p.m. Patel had not been booked into Dougherty County Jail, but he was expected, said a jail spokeswoman.

“The charges are financial transaction fraud and computer theft,” Edwards said. “He took thousands, in excess of $100,000, from a taxpayer program that is supposed to help people buy food.”

The way the scheme worked, according to Edwards, is that Patel would accept a Electronic Benefit Transfer system card meant to purchase food at his father’s store from customers.

Patel would then charge the food-stamp system as if food were purchased. Patel would give cash back to the customer instead of food, Edwards said.

“He operated like this,” Edwards said. “Say he took a card for $100. He would return $60 to the cardholder and keep $40 for himself.”

Note to people in refugee resettlement, you need to be alerting refugees that they can get into legal trouble for selling their privilege to purchase  food by participating as the seller of the stamps.  It is not just the buyer of the stamps who can go to jail.

Connecting the dots on food stamp fraud

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I was pleased to see this story at World Net Daily where reporters have started connecting the dots on the massive food stamp fraud going on in small town and big city America.   We’ve been following immigrant food stamp fraud (large money transfers, not little issues of someone buying junk food on stamps) for years.  If you use our search function for ‘food stamp fraud’ you will see dozens of posts from every corner of America on the topic.

This story is different in that it begins to show how large a problem this is, especially when it is believed that we are ‘redistributing wealth’ to terrorists.

From World Net Daily:

Federal agents have raided several convenience stores and a mosque in tiny Henderson, N.C., while arresting at least two Muslim men in connection with the raid.
Authorities suspect the stores were operating a so-called hawala money-transfer network supporting terrorist activities in Yemen, including al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, WND has learned. AQAP’s leaders include fugitive al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been linked to 10 major terror plots in the past year alone.

Mohamed Mohamed Nagi, 33, and Abdullah Ahmed Almuwallad, 32, have been charged with food stamp fraud. Additionally, Almuwallad has been charged with transporting stolen cigarettes and possession of the illegal stimulant cathinone, more commonly known a khat. Khat is popular in many countries of the Arabian peninsula and the Horn of Africa, but in Yemen it’s a full-blown national addiction.

FBI agents have had both men under surveillance for several months. Federal, state and local law enforcement agents on Thursday searched four stores in Henderson, located about 40 miles north of Raleigh, N.C., including the stores where Nagi and Almuwallad worked. Agents converged on the targets using a helicopter and unmarked cars.

[….]

Investigators suspect proceeds from cigarette smuggling and food stamp irregularities have been laundered through the Henderson stores to terror front groups in Yemen.

Somalis again!

The Somali community also has been the subject of federal investigations into terrorist money-laundering involving food stamps.

Federal agents suspect Somali refugees have funneled millions of dollars from food-stamp fraud and drug sales through Somali grocery stores into overseas bank accounts used by al-Qaida.

CAIR has defended the Somali store owners against the allegations, even meeting with the head of the civil-rights unit of the USDA to complain about the agency’s food-stamp investigations, which it argues are “causing enormous harm to the owners and the Somali community,” reveals a confidential CAIR memo published in the book, “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America.“

Australia: boat carrying asylum seekers wrecks off Christmas Island, much loss of life

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Residents of Christmas Island were awakened by screams from the sea as a wooden boat carrying an undetermined number of asylum seekers wrecked off Australia yesterday.

From AFP News:

SYDNEY (AFP) – Hope dwindled for survivors of a refugee boat wreck off Australia Thursday which killed at least 28 people, including seven children, renewing debate on the plight of boat people travelling from Asia.

The wooden craft, crowded with up to 100 Iraqi, Kurdish and Iranian asylum seekers and their children, hit rocks at remote Christmas Island Wednesday and was shattered by huge waves as residents watched in horror.

Traumatised survivors pulled from the sea after the disaster huddled in a hospital and reception centre Thursday, with the most seriously injured flown to Perth as hope faded of finding their fellow passengers alive in wild seas.

“We have got to prepare ourselves for the likelihood that more bodies will be found and there has been further loss of life than we know now,” warned Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who cut short her holiday to respond to the emergency.

[….]

More than 5,000 asylum seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have made their way to Australia this year, mostly on unseaworthy vessels from Indonesia, prompting criticism of Canberra for softening its refugee policy.

Read it all.

See our Australia category where we have written on many previous occasions about Australia’s boat people problem.