Dinah Lord

The Lost Boys of Minnesota: FBI raids travel agency on trail of Somali Jihadis

From VOA: 

(And I'm betting there's more to this story than 2 young men who wanted to travel to Somalia.)

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the office of a Minnesota travel agency this week for clues to the disappearance of 20 Somali-American men believed to be fighting in Somalia's civil war.

Omar Jamal, spokesman for the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, says the owner of Amana Travel was approached several months ago by two young men who wanted to travel to Somalia. Jamal says the owner, Ali Mohamud, refused to book the tickets when he learned the young men's parents were unaware of their plans.
...

Amana Travel owner Mohamud is facing separate charges of fraud and felony theft, for allegedly taking money for tickets he never bought and pocketing the refunds of tickets he canceled.

Bingo!  Looks like the trail is leading back to Abubakar As Siddique Mosque - doesn't it always?

He said the woman, who knew the young men from her work at Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, advised him to return their passports to them. He said he did — and never dealt with them again.

The young men, Mustafa Ali Salat and Mohamed Hassan, found a way to go to Somalia anyway later in 2008, family and community members say.  "Somehow, eventually, they ended up leaving," said Omar Jamal, executive director of Somali Justice Advocacy Center. "We don't know how that happened."

More on the fraud charges faced by the travel agency's owner:

Information about the search warrant at the travel agency emerged after Mohamud was arrested by local police in a separate matter. Mohamud is charged with theft by swindle. Authorities say he took money from about a dozen clients and didn't issue valid travel tickets or refund payments. He made his first court appearance Friday in Hennepin County and was released with certain conditions, including the surrender of his passport. No plea was entered.

Mohamud, who spoke to the AP after his release from jail, said he is confused and worried by the swindling allegations, saying some of the alleged victims have already been issued tickets.

Not so fast there, bucko.

Some customers reported that they didn't realize Amana had canceled their trips, or that the tickets were bogus, until they arrived at the airport ready to board their flights.

KAALtv.com video on the arrest can be found here.  It looks like Amana's owner has trouble with his landlord too - he's being sued for the non-payment of $5000 in eviction charges.   What a fine, upstanding citizen.

And according to KSTPtv.com Minneapolis police believe he may be involved in additional crimes:

"We believe he may have been involved in additional crimes," Minneapolis Police Lt. Brad Sporny told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

Authorities want any businesses that may also be victims of Mohamud to call the Minneapolis Police Department at (612) 673-2941.

And in case you missed it (like I did when I was MIA):  FBI searches Rochester homes in Somali probe

An excellent question about the Somali pirates and all that ransom dough.

Where the hell are they keeping it?  Back in November, Kenya's Foreign Minister estimated the amount for 2008 alone to be at $150 million.  (I've seen the $100 million number thrown around, too.)  Anyway you slice it, that's a lot of jack to keep lying around. 

From Media Monitors Network.

Where in Somalia are these pirates hiding the $100 million, which is in cash, not bank drafts? On the one hand, they are free to do as they please with the money because they have no fear of being arrested because there is no government to impose law and order. On the other hand, Somalia has no banks, so if the pirates have made deposits, in which country or countries are the banks?

It begs answering, because if you believe this piece - the 'wafer-thin banditos' are spending $500,000 out of every million on food, snacks and cigarettes.

According to Farah Ismael Eid, a pirate who is serving a 15-year term In Somalia´s notorious Mandera prison, the money he and his pals collected was divided thus: 30% for government officials 20% for the bosses, 20% for necessities like guns, food and cigarettes, 30% for the gunmen.

That is a lot of ciggies folks. If one is to believe these figures that means pirates spend $500,000 out of every million-ransom dollars on snacks, smokes and guns. One assumes these wafer thin bandidos are not big eaters, and an AK-47 can be bought in this part of East Africa for under $100 bucks. This means Somali pirates are puffing their way through almost half a million dollars in cigarettes every week.

But if you believe this piece - - the piracy operations are run like a classic MBA school exercise and  Dinah's here to tell you there's no way those types are not going to earn the float off of $100 mil. 

What?  What's that you say?  The pirates' roughly $250,000 worth of seed capital is provided from a successful Somali outside of the country through the Hawala money laundering system?  Well, what do you know.  (Have a little time to kill?  You can listen to the NPR's Money Planet podcast on the subject referencing the role of Hawala in pirate financing here.  Starts at the 10:00 minute mark.)

Gee, do you think that is the way that the money is getting out of the country, too? 

Um, yes. 

In other pirate news (slightly tardy - but better late than never)  US hands over 3 dead pirates to Somalian police.

And just to maintain my personal record of the Islamist - Pirate linkage.  (Because the pirate attacks continue apace and you know the question is going to come up again and again.)

FBI raids Minnesota hawala firm but it's "unrelated to Lost boys of Minnesota..."

So quit asking pesky questions and go back to sleep, sheeple. 

You mean questions about why the United States is still tolerating hawala operations eight years after 9/11? 

You mean questions like why a money transfer firm would be conducting business using four different names?

Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial.

<---Inside Mustaqbal Express shop.

Or how poor immigrants (largely Somali)could be scraping up $1 million to $1.5 million to send home every month out of this Mustaqbal Express/North American Money Transfer Minneapolis shop alone?

You mean those kind of questions?

For a shop located in a "Village Market" it's network is quite extensive.  There is a Mustaqbal UK operation (you can visit their typo riddled website here).  They also have a location in the UAE  - their website address is africanhorngreen.com ) 

Who is the African Horn group?  Another one of Mustaqbal's/NAMT/Quran Express/Aaaran Financial' s spidery connections "With our partnership of African Horn, one of the largest network in money transfer services, we are able to deliver your money to regions around the world where traditional financial institutions do not exist," says the website."

The only thing I can find on the African Horn Group is a commercial broker out of Dubai that of Somali livestock traders. Salted camel skins, anyone?

You can find a copy of the search warrant here.

The location also contains a computer sales and repair shop and an income tax service and the company's St. Louis office was raided about a year ago.  It's interesting to note that the search warrant did come out of the Eastern District court of Missouri.  (Perhaps it really isn't connected to the lost boys of MN.)

And here is a map of their US locations.           (I don't know if they are funneling $ from all these locations maybe $1 to $1.5 million isn't all that much?  What do you think?  Based on this found in the CIA Factbook it's a drop in Somalia's remittance bucket. "Money transfer/remittance services have sprouted throughout the country, handling roughly $2 billion in remittances annually."

Well, about the other two Mustaqbal firms targeted in yesterday's raid they are located in the Karmel Mall. 

Wondering what kind of place Karmel Mall is?  Me too, so I found this myspace video CHILLIN' AT KARMEL MALL from somebody named Reefy Shampoo.  (I know) Warning:  Profanity, gang bang slang and wavy gravy video quality.  It also raises the question ONCE AGAIN about what it is about Islam that attracts thugs and gangstas.