Posted on Mon, May. 30, 2005
Men in Florida, New York charged in plot to support al-Qaida
LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press
NEW YORK - FBI agents in Florida and New York arrested two men who
prosecutors said were secretly recorded during a two-year sting
operation pledging their support and loyalty to al-Qaida.
Authorities said Sunday that Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, 50, a Boca Raton
physician, and Tarik Shah, 42, a self-described martial arts expert in
New York, conspired to treat and train terrorists. Both are U.S.
citizens.
Both men were scheduled for their first court appearances Tuesday in
federal court, Shah in New York and Sabir in Florida, according to a
news release from U.S. Attorney David Kelley in Manhattan.
It was not immediately clear who would represent them in court. If
convicted, each man faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and
a fine of up to $250,000.
The one-count complaint claims the men allegedly took an oath pledging
their allegiance to al-Qaida. The government said the men engaged in
recorded conversations with a confidential source and an FBI agent
posing as an al-Qaida operative.
During the conversations, Shah described how he and Sabir in 1998
tried to get to training camps in Afghanistan and said they were a
"package" deal, Kelley said in the release.
Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, "It is particularly
gratifying that someone using New York City as a base for terrorist
support is now in custody."
As recently as May 20, during a meeting at a New York City apartment,
Sabir indicated he would travel shortly to Saudi Arabia to treat the
wounds of jihadists at a Saudi military base, prosecutors said. Travel
records showed he was scheduled to leave Thursday.
During recorded conversations, Shah also repeatedly indicated his
desire to train Muslim "brothers" in the martial arts and hand-to-hand
combat, the release said.
Shah took steps to find secret locations for jihad weapons training,
at one point inspecting a Long Island warehouse, and described
previous efforts to recruit others, prosecutors said.
Sabir was being held at the Palm Beach County Jail; it was not
immediately known where Shah was being held. There was no phone
listing for Sabir in Boca Raton, Fla. A phone number listed for Shah
in Poughkeepsie, N.Y, rang unanswered Sunday evening.
Shah's mother, Marlene Jenkins, called the charges against her son
"ridiculous."
"He's no terrorist," Jenkins, of Albany, N.Y., told the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel in Monday's editions.
Sabir is a licensed medical doctor in Florida, New York and
Pennsylvania, according to the Florida Department of Health Web site.
He received his medical degree from Columbia University in 1981 and
his bachelor's degree from City of New York College.
Daniel McBride, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, said
Sabir lived in a Boca Raton gated community with Arleen Morgan, a
registered nurse, and their two young sons.
"While we were married he was a lovely father and husband, and nothing
if not a hardworking man," Sabir's former wife, Ingrid Doyle, of New
York City, told the newspaper. "I'm still reeling from this, and my
daughter has been crying all day."
Associated Press Writer Lisa Orkin Emmanuel contributed to this report
from Miami.
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