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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Islamic Center of Boca Raton member arrested in Al Qaeda plot - Dr. Rafiq Sabir friend of mosque spokesman Daniel McBride

Islamic Center of Boca Raton member arrested in Al Qaeda plot - Dr. Rafiq Sabir friend of mosque spokesman Daniel McBride

Doctor & martial arts instructor planned to set up Al Qaeda terrorist training camp in Long Island
May 30, 2005

MIM: The arrest of Rafiq Sabir, a member of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, (who swore an oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda), is hopefully only the beginning in what will be a long list of it's officials and members. Mosque spokesman Daniel McBride, stated that Dr.Sabir is a friend of his. The present ICBR Imam, Muneer Arafat, has been conspicuously silent and as yet invisible to the media.

In February of 2004 Ibrahim Dremali, the Imam of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, suddenly 'moved' to Des Moines, Iowa (where he is now the Iman of the small and reportedly cash strapped Islamic Center of Des Moines Dremali left behind a professor's job at Broward Community College, a position as engineer at a Coastal Planning office in Boca Raton which he took in 2003, and the leadership of a large and thriving mosque and newly opened Islamic school. (It is worth noting that surveillance of Rafiq Sabir reportedly began in January of 2004 and that Dremali left Boca Raton for Des Moine a month later).

Dremali's was not the only 'sudden' departure from the ICBR, in 2002, mosque spokesman Hassan Shareef, ( a non Arabic convert to Islam) 'abruptly' departed 'for a new job' in Saudi Arabia. In 2003 ICBR co founder, treasurer and student advisor Khalid Hamza also 'dissappeared' after attracting media attention when he filed a discrimination lawsuit against FAU for not granting him tenure. The university claimed that Hamza had falsified information on his resume and accused him of professional improprieties.One colleague related that their office had been repeatedly clad with anti semitic slogans and that the vandalism had ceased after Hamza left the campus. Hamza had also written a book called "The Veil" about a Muslim family who was trying to retain their Islamic way of life against the decadence of Boca Raton. (The teenage son of the family was named 'Jihad', and Hamza showed his contempt for the Jews living in Boca, by portraying them as loud and vulgar people adorned with Rolexes and driving Mercedes.

The ICBR first attracted media attention in 9/11 when they came under scrutiny due to the virulently anti semitic articles on their website and links to organisations and individuals associated with Hamas and Al Qaeda.

The ICBR's ties to terrorism, which continue to be investigated and extensively documented, included a Hamas 'charity' which was being run together with the Imam's brother in Gaza, and a 'summer camp' trip to Saudi Arabia which involved recruiting students for Al Azhar Islamic University.

Imam Ibrahim Dremali is listed on the incorporation papers of The Health Resource Center Palestine, whose vice president, Lamyaa Hashim, was believed to be the ex or co wife of Imam Ibrahim Dremali, was 'closed down' in 2003 and was directly linked to the Islamic Association of Palestine/Hamas. Lamyaa Hashim ran a website which supported suicide bombings and her poetry appeared on a friends website Palestine4Ever (now defunct), which included a photo gallery in memory of suicide bombers.

The most recent article about the Islamic Center of Boca Raton dealt with ex Imam Ibrahim Dremali's claims of having been attacked by two 'red necks in a pick up truck' after 9/11. The writers of the article uncovered convincing evidence ind that the attack was very likely a hoax concocted by Dremali to divert negative publicity which the mosque received after the WTC attacks.

Some founding members and officials at the ICBR are professors at Florida Atlantic University. Computer Science professor Bassem Al Halabi, is listed as a manager on ICBR board. http://www.cse.fau.edu/~bassem/

In the 1990's Al Halabi spent a year as a research student with Sami Al Arian, and listed him as a reference on his job resume at FAU. In a 2003 newspaper article Al Halabi admitted that he had attended a PIJ conference with Al Arian, claiming that he had stayed outside and didnt listen to the speakers at the event.

(Al Arian's trial is scheduled to begin in Tampa on June 6th and the indictment says he is responsible for the murders of 100 people in PIJ terrorist attacks. Al Arian accused of funding and orchestrating suicide bombings in Israel and forming the North American wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad).

Al Halabi's FAU colleague, Khalid Hamza, also a computer engineer - 'suddenly dissappeared' last year and is now teaching at a university in Texas. Al Halabi and Hamza had gotten more then 1 million dollars in research grants for their work at FAU. Some of the grants financed jaunts to Middle Eastern countries for conferences.

The Islamic Center of Boca Raton was founded in 1998 by Ibrahim Dremali, Bassem Al Halabi and Khalid Hamza, and was connected to the FAU Muslim Student Association. Three of the registered agents for the mosque are Ibrahim Dremali, Bassem Al Halabi, and Daniel (aka Abdulrahman)McBride, who are listed as managers on the incorporation papers of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton. (see documentation below).

In 2003 Bassem Al Halabi was cite by a US government agency for illegally exporting a thermal imaging device to his native Syria. The government forbids exporting these for " national security, regional stability, and anti-terrorism reasons. Al Halabi said he bought it for his brother to use' to find coins in the sand' and was forced to bring the device back. The incident did not cause FAU to reconsider their decision to grant him tenure the year before.

In an April 2005 article in the Des Moines Register about entitled :"Imam his family find refuge in Des Moines Mosque - He denies terror allegations follow him from Florida" recounted that :

"...he was also dogged in Florida by groups that accused him and his mosque of having links to terrorist organizations, an activity and intent that he has repeatedly denied..."

"...Beila Rabinowitz, whose Web site, militantislammonitor.org, has labeled Dremali a "radical Islamist," has contacted Des Moines-area news media and Des Moines Jewish leaders about Dremali.

"Iowans are probably nice people and mean well, but they are gullible if they are taken in by Dremali," Rabinowitz said. "People should know his track record..." http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050418/LIFE05/504180354/1039/LIFE

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For more information on the terrorist ties of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton see:

Deconstructing Dremali: Response to the Des Moines Register article

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/581

New Jihadi on the block- Imam Ibrahim Dremali leaves Boca Raton for Des Moines

New Islamic Center planned in Sunrise

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/257

Boca Raton City of Terror

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=7982

Terror U - Parts I & II

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/389

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West Boca doctor sought to treat wounded terrorists Feds say

Agents arrest second suspect in New York

By Tal Abbady and Shahien Nasiripour
Staff Writers

May 30, 2005

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-psabir30may30,0,2294087.story?page=2&coll=sfla-news-palm

A Palm Beach County doctor arrested on terrorism-related charges plotted to treat "wounded jihadists" in a plan hatched with a New York martial-arts expert to recruit and train al-Qaida members, federal officials said Sunday.

Both men were arrested during the weekend.

The second suspect, Tarik Ibn Osman Shah, 42, was apprehended in the Bronx on Saturday in the same investigation that snared Rafiq Abdus Sabir, 50, an emergency-room doctor who lives in a gated community west of Boca Raton. The men, U.S. citizens, were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida, the terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden.

A source said the FBI was working on a third arrest in Florida during the weekend, but details were not confirmed.

With their arrests, the FBI thwarted their plans to recruit "brothers who are ready," according to officials.

In a detailed statement, David N. Kelley, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, described a series of conversations that date to 2003 among Shah, Sabir, an undercover agent posing as an al-Qaida recruiter and a "confidential source." In the conversations, taped with Shah and Sabir's consent, the suspects pledged their loyalty to al-Qaida and bin Laden, the statement said.

In a detailed statement, David N. Kelley, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, described a series of conversations that date to 2003 among Shah, Sabir, an undercover agent posing as an al-Qaida recruiter and a "confidential source." In the conversations, taped with Shah and Sabir's consent, the suspects pledged their loyalty to al-Qaida and bin Laden, the statement said.

Shah, also known as Tarik Jenkins, agreed to provide martial-arts training and hand-to-hand combat, according to the statement. Sabir, also described as "the Doctor," pledged to provide medical assistance to terrorists in Saudi Arabia who couldn't visit hospitals, the statement said. Both men had staked out possible training centers for terrorists, including a Long Island warehouse, and had a list of possible recruits, some who already had traveled overseas to attend training camps in the Middle East, officials said in the complaint.

One name on the list confiscated by officials was that of Seifullah Chapman, a member of the Virginia Jihad Network, convicted in Virginia in 2004 for supporting terrorists and sentenced to 85 years in prison.

Shah allegedly had traveled to Phoenix, Ariz., to recruit for al-Qaida. He and Sabir also had attempted to travel to Afghanistan for training in 1998, the statement said. In their bid to be recruited by the undercover agent, officials said, Shah and Sabir took a loyalty oath and "committed themselves to the path of Holy War." They said Shah also agreed to provide a training syllabus for hand-to-hand combat and a video demonstrating his skills. He also showed the undercover agent how to twist his prayer beads into a weapon for strangulation.

Sabir had plans to travel to Saudi Arabia, where he was employed as a medical doctor at a Saudi military base, the statement said. He was scheduled to leave June 2.

Sabir has worked at Glades General Hospital, emergency-room workers said and records confirm. Details of his employment were not available.

Sabir is due to appear in U.S. District Court in Fort Pierce on Tuesday morning. Shah is expected to appear before a judge in Manhattan federal court the same day. If convicted, the men could face up to 15 years in prison.

To successfully prosecute Sabir on the terrorism charge, authorities must prove Sabir assisted a terrorist organization knowing it would use his support to carry out its activities, according to Walid Phares, a professor of Middle East studies at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

Sabir emerged in some accounts by friends and relatives as a pious man who moved to Florida to remake his life and who gained the respect of worshipers at the mosque he attended regularly. He struggled to make amends as a father to his estranged children in New York, where records show he left behind a life mired in debt.

Relatives said Sabir's grown children, Jabreel Sabir, 18, and Safiya Sabir, 21, were visiting their father and were jolted from sleep about 6 a.m. Saturday when federal agents arrived at Sabir's home in gated Villa San Remo.

The charge against Sabir was posted on the Palm Beach County Jail's Web site after he was booked at 1:26 p.m. Saturday, but it was later removed from the site on orders of the FBI.

Sabir is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail. He has been living in Villa San Remo with Arleen Morgan, a registered nurse, according to state records. They have two young sons, said Daniel McBride, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Boca Raton.

A woman who answered the phone at the couple's address Sunday would not speak to reporters. Neighbors said Sabir had lived in the home for a few years.

Ingrid Doyle, 47, of New York City, said she was married to Sabir from 1981 to 1992. The couple's two children were back in New York Sunday and recovering from the shock of their father's arrest.

"While we were married he was a lovely father and husband, and nothing if not a hardworking man," Doyle said. She said Sabir was born into a large Catholic family in New York and converted to Islam in high school. His father left the family home when he was very young and his mother was unable to care for her children, so Sabir and his siblings were placed in a group home through Sabir's high school years, Doyle said. Sabir went on to earn a medical degree from Columbia University.

Doyle said she had little contact with Sabir after they divorced, and it was the first time her children had traveled to Florida to visit their father since he moved to the state several years ago, she said.

"I'm still reeling from this and my daughter has been crying all day," Doyle said.

News of the arrests rankled nerves in the Muslim American community, whose leaders say they must walk a thin line between supporting authorities' efforts to root out terrorism and defending Muslim Americans against indiscriminate profiling.

"The issue of profiling by law enforcement authorities remains a serious issue within our community. We hope that when it comes to justice Muslims will receive the same due process as any other American would," said Altaf Ali, head of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Marlene Jenkins, Shah's mother, said the charges against her son were "ridiculous."

"He's no terrorist," said Jenkins from her home in Albany, N.Y. She described her son as a jazz musician who helped her manage her properties.

According to the federal statement, both men had waited a long time to take bayat, an oath of loyalty to al-Qaida and the "path of Holy War."

After taking his pledge, Sabir told the undercover agent, "... you should be careful what you ask for because you might get it," the statement said.

Staff Researcher Cindy Kent contributed to this report.

Tal Abbady can be reached at [email protected] or 561-243-6624.

West Boca doctor faces terror charge

By Tania Valdemoro, Rebecca Carr, Kimberly Miller

Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

Monday, May 30, 2005

A West Boca Raton doctor will be arraigned Tuesday in federal court on a charge of conspiring to provide material support to Al-Qaeda after an early morning arrest and raid of his home during the weekend.

Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 50, and a Bronx martial arts expert were charged Sunday with plotting to start an Al-Qaeda terror training camp in the United States, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelly.

Sabir and Tarik Shah, 38, presented themselves as a "package deal" to help Muslim "brothers" wage "jihad" here and in the Middle East, officials said.

Sabir, a former New York doctor who moved to Boca Raton in 2002, vowed to treat wounded jihadists in Saudi Arabia, where he was scheduled to fly to this week, officials said. Sabir was a resident of New York until September 2002 when Florida driver license records show he moved to the gated subdivision Villa of San Remo.

Sabir and Shah were charged with conspiring to provide material support to Al-Qaeda. If convicted, they each face 15 years in prison and $250,000 fines.

Sabir previously worked at Harlem Hospital and Nassau County Medical Center and once operated a storefront office at a Harlem mosque.

He was arrested about 7 a.m. Saturday at his home on Via Giulia. After the arrest by local law enforcement officials, neighbors said FBI agents entered the house in an apparent search.

Federal agents began investigating Shah and Sabir in 2003, when the duo began meeting with a confidential informant to talk about ways they could help Al-Qaeda, the terrorist network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, authorities said.

Officials said the conversations were secretly recorded.

"During these conversations, Shah repeatedly indicated his desire to train Muslim 'brothers' in the martial arts in order to wage 'jihad' and also regularly discussed his desire to find people who were willing to press the fight," Kelley's statement said.

Sabir allegedly told the informant that once he returned to Saudi Arabia, where he claimed to work at a Saudi military base, he would secretly treat wounded terrorists.

He had been set to fly to Saudi Arabia this Thursday.

Dan Kozan, a neighbor who lives across the street from Sabir, said he believes FBI agents had been observing Sabir for months, with surveillance beginning as long ago as January.

Kozan said he did not see agents remove papers or other equipment from Sabir's home and he didn't know why Sabir would be considered a terrorism suspect.

Sabir, an emergency room doctor, his wife, and two young sons did not appear to be well-known to people in his neighborhood.

"I don't know anything about them," said Charlotte Scwartz, a neighbor. "They never spoke to me."

Scwartz said she believed the family has lived in the neighborhood for at least two years.

Property records show the 1,600-square-foot Sabir home belongs to Robert Braverman of Boca Raton. Braverman could not be reached for comment.

Sabir has no criminal record in Florida, according to state reports, but in October 2004 he did file a domestic violence complaint against a woman who lives at the same address as him and is likely his wife.

The complaint was dismissed before a court hearing and a message left at the number listed for the woman was not returned.

Sabir was issued a license to practice medicine in Florida in 2003 and got a driver license here in 2002.

It's unclear where Sabir worked. He did not list a primary practice when obtaining his work license. Boca Raton area hospitals, including West Boca Medical Center and Delray Medical Center, said he was not on their staffs.

Sabir is a graduate of City College of New York and Columbia University's medical school, where he obtained a specialty in emergency medicine.

A member of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, Sabir participated sporadically in its activities, center volunteers said. On Sunday they referred questions about Sabir to Dan McBride, the center's spokesman.

McBride did not return calls seeking comment.

The volunteers suggested Sabir belonged to other area Islamic organizations, but spokesmen for the Muslim Community of Palm Beach and the Assadiq Islamic Educational Foundation both said Sabir was not a member of their respective groups.

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Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir accused of working for Al Qaeda

Feds silent about arrest in West Boca

By Shahien Nasiripour and Josh Hafenbrack
Sun-Sentinel

May 29, 2005

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-psabir29xmay29,0,1203152,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

May 29, 2005

West Boca · A 50-year-old doctor was arrested Saturday morning on a federal terrorism charge.

Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

He was being held in the Palm Beach County Jail waiting to appear in U.S. District Court.

U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller in Washington, D.C., declined to comment on the charge against Sabir.

FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela also declined to comment. Spokesmen from the Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment, despite an attempt by phone.

The charge Sabir faces is from a 1996 law making it a crime for anyone in the United States to knowingly aid terrorist organizations. That includes providing money, lodging, training, false documentation or identification, weapons, equipment and transportation, according to the Department of Justice Web site.

Providing medical assistance or religious material is not a crime, according to the Justice Department.

Someone could face charges for anything from making a small donation to a terrorist front group to playing a key role in a known terrorist organization.

The maximum sentence for conviction is 15 years in prison.

The charge against Sabir was posted on the Palm Beach County Jail's Web site after he was booked at 1:26 p.m., but later was removed from the Web site on orders of the FBI.

"My boss, Maj. Christopher Kneisley, made it very clear to me the FBI and the other federal agencies didn't want this information to be released," said Sgt. Konstandinos Patzanakidis, a jail official. "We're going to do whatever they want us to do."

FBI agents swarmed Sabir's home at about 7 a.m., neighbor Dan Kozan said.

A woman who answered the door at his home in the gated Villa San Remo community west of Boca Raton on Saturday afternoon said only, "There's nothing to talk about."

Dr. Daniel McBride, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Boca Raton and a friend of Sabir, said Sabir works in the emergency rooms of two hospitals in Palm Beach County.

"That's absurd," McBride said of the charge against Sabir. "He is a quality guy and a quality physician. He's all about helping others. That's why he became a doctor.

"It would shock me beyond belief if [the allegation] was true."

The federal government's prosecution of such a charge hasn't always been successful.

In 2003, two Detroit men were convicted of the same charge. But the next year the government disavowed the case and asked the judge to throw out the convictions.

Sabir graduated from City College of New York with a bachelor's degree in biology and in 1981 graduated from Columbia University's medical school with a specialty in emergency medicine, according to Florida state records and Columbia's alumni Web site. He practiced in the New York City area in the 1980s and '90s before moving to Florida.

Sabir received his Florida driver's license in 2002 and his medical license in 2003, according to state records.

He has no medical disciplinary actions against him in Florida, according to state records. He had none against him in New York, according to New York state records that date back to 1990.

Staff Writer Ushma Patel and Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.

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http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/314389p-268904c.html

Two busted in
Al Qaeda plot in U.S.

BY ROBERT F. MOORE and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, May 30th, 2005

The son of a former Malcolm X aide was nabbed yesterday, along with a Florida doctor, in a plot to start an Al Qaeda training camp in the U.S. - even scouting out a Long Island warehouse for a terror school, officials said last night.

Tarik Shah, 38, a self-proclaimed martial arts expert from the Bronx, and Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 50, presented themselves as a "package deal" to help Muslim "brothers" wage jihad here and in the Middle East, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley.

Kelley said Shah - son of Lieutenant X, one of Malcolm X's top aides - even bragged to an undercover FBI agent and a federal informant that he could kill with prayer beads.

Sabir, a former New York doctor who moved to Boca Raton, Fla., in 2002, vowed to treat wounded jihadists in Saudi Arabia, where he was scheduled to fly this week, officials said.

"Both swore an oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda and [Osama] Bin Laden in front of the informant and [an] FBI undercover agent posing as [an Al Qaeda] recruiter before they were nabbed this weekend," a statement released by Kelley said.

The oath left the two men with the "impression that they had become members" of Al Qaeda, the statement said.

Officials said Shah, who also went by the names Tarik Jenkins and Abu Musab, took steps to find a secret location in the New York area to house a terror training camp. "At one point, in the company of the [informant], Shah allegedly inspected a warehouse on Long Island to determine its suitability as a training facility," said the statement.

Shah and Sabir, both American citizens, were charged with conspiring to provide material support to Al Qaeda. If convicted, they each face 15 years in prison and $250,000 fines.

Both men were arrested Friday morning, Shah at his home on Grant Ave. near E. 163rd St. in the Bronx and Sabir in Boca Raton. Shah was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Federal Court tomorrow.

Sabir - who previously worked at Harlem Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center and who once operated a storefront office at a Harlem mosque - has a court date tomorrow in a federal courtroom in Florida.

His ex-wife Ingrid Doyle, 47, of Manhattan, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Sabir was born into a large Catholic family in New York and converted to Islam while in high school.

"While we were married he was a lovely father and husband and nothing if not a hardworking man," Doyle said.

Last night, as the results of the joint FBI and NYPD operation were revealed, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said it is "particularly gratifying that someone using New York City as a base for terrorist support is now in custody."

Federal agents began investigating Shah and Sabir in 2003, when the two began meeting with a confidential informant to talk about ways they could help Al Qaeda, the terrorist network responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, authorities said.

Officials said the talks were secretly recorded.

"During these conversations, Shah repeatedly indicated his desire to train Muslim 'brothers' in the martial arts in order to wage jihad and also regularly discussed his desire to find people who were willing to press the fight," Kelley's statement said.

Shah was so gung-ho about helping the terrorists that he presented to the informant a "training syllabus for hand-to-hand combat" and a videotape so that AlQaeda bosses in the Middle East could evaluate him, authorities said.

"During one meeting with the [informant] ... Shah physically demonstrated how he had fashioned his prayer beads into a weapon which could be used to strangle a person," the statement said.

Shah also was interested in getting training in "chemical stuff" and firearms, officials said.

But last night, Shah's mother, Marlene Jenkins, of Albany, blasted the charges as "ridiculous."

"He's no terrorist," Jenkins told the Sun-Sentinel.

Sabir allegedly told the informant that once he returned to Saudi Arabia, where he claimed he had worked at a Saudi military base, he would secretly treat wounded terrorists.

Sabir, who was educated at City College and Columbia University's medical school and owes $500,000 in student loans, had been set to fly to Saudi Arabia this Thursday, according to prosecutors.

When cops raided his home in a gated community, Villa of San Remo, Sabir told them, "'I know you have a job to do. I'm a doctor, and I know my rights,'" a police source said.

Sabir was well known in Harlem, where he once kept a storefront office below the Masjidus Sabur mosque on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.

"He helps people," said one mosque member.

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ER doctor to face terror charge

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11771604.htm

MIAMI - The FBI arrested a South Florida doctor and New York martial arts expert on federal terrorism charges, saying they conspired to treat and train terrorists, federal prosecutors announced Sunday.

Rafiq Abdus Sabir, a physician who lives west of Boca Raton, and Tarik Shah, a self-described martial arts expert in New York, were both charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York.

Both men are American citizens. Shah also known as Tarik Ibn Osman Shah, Tarik Jenkins, and Abu Musab, prosecutors said.

Sabir was arrested Saturday and was being held at the Palm Beach County Jail. There was no phone listing for Sabir in Boca Raton. Prosecutors didn't say where Shah was being held, and a phone number listed for Shah in Poughkeepsie, N.Y, rang unanswered.

It was not immediately known whether either man had an attorney.

Prosecutors said Sabir agreed to treat jihadists, or holy warriors, in Saudi Arabia, while Shah agreed to train them in hand-to-hand combat.

The one-count complaint details a sting operation from 2003 to 2005 in which the two men took an oath pledging their allegiance to al-Qaida.

Both had multiple meetings with a confidential source and an undercover agent posing as an al-Qaida operative and recruiter. Many of the meetings were consensually recorded, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Shah presented himself and Sabir as a "package deal."

Shah allegedly indicated he wanted train fighters "to wage jihad" and to "find people who were willing to press the fight," prosecutors said.

Shah also inspected a warehouse in Long Island to determine if it was suitable as a training facility, and he described his previous attempts to recruit others, which included a trip to Phoenix. He said he would give a training manual for hand-to-hand combat and a videotape to the undercover agent so that others in the Middle East could see his "usefulness to the cause," prosecutors said.

Shah also allegedly said he and Sabir tried to attend training camps in Afghanistan in 1998.

Agents also found names and telephone numbers of people who had gone abroad to training camps in the Middle East, including Seifullah Champan. Champan was a member of the Virginia Jihad Network, who was convicted of providing material support to a Pakistan-based terror group in March 2004. He was sentenced to 85 years in prison.

On May 20 both men met with the undercover agent in the Bronx. Sabir was to fly to Saudi Arabia on June 2 to work as a physician at a Saudi military base, prosecutors said.

Both men are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court on Tuesday, Shah in New York and Sabir in Florida.

If convicted both men face a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the crime.

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 in Biology from City of New York College.

The Florida Chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations didn't return phone messages to The Associated Press on Sunday.

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Boca Neighbors knew little about doctor accused of terror ties

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-bocaratonterrormay30,0,4794992.story?coll=sfla-news-palm

Adrian Sanz

Associated Press

May 30, 2005, 1:03 PM EDT

Associated Press WriterNeighbors of a doctor accused of pledging his allegiance to al-Qaida said Monday they were aware that federal authorities had been watching a home in their gated community, but also say they knew little about the man and his family.

Gerry Weisbrot, 77, said he spoke with a federal officer in his Boca Raton neighborhood in the few months before Saturday's arrest of Rafiq Abdus Sabir.

"One day, my neighbor and I walked over to (a man's) car and asked him who he was and what was he doing in this neighborhood," Weisbrot said Monday.

"He turned around and took out his FBI credential and said he was watching someone, but he did not say who," said Weisbrot, who has lived in the Villa San Remo gated community since 1990.

He turned around and took out his FBI credential and said he was watching someone, but he did not say who," said Weisbrot, who has lived in the Villa San Remo gated community since 1990.

The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges Sabir, 50, of Boca Raton, and Tarik Shah, 42, a self-described martial arts expert in New York, conspired to treat and train terrorists. Both are American citizens.

A complaint accuses the men of taking an oath pledging their loyalty to al-Qaida, the terrorist group accused of the Sept. 11 attacks. The government said the men engaged in multiple recorded conversations with a confidential source and an FBI agent posing as an al-Qaida operative during a two-year sting operation.

Both men were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in federal court, Shah in New York and Sabir in Florida, U.S. Attorney David Kelley in Manhattan said.

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.

Weisbrot said he heard of the arrest from another neighbor, and that authorities said "they didn't want anybody congregating around the house."

Weisbrot said he had seen Sabir a few times.

"There was nothing to put him out of the ordinary," he said.

Daniel McBride, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, said Sabir lived with Arleen Morgan, a registered nurse, and their two young sons.

Weisbrot and other neighbors said in telephone interviews that they didn't know much about Sabir and his family.

"I never had a conversation with them," said Lisa Kozan, 39, an insurance agent who lives across the street from Sabir. "They mostly keep to themselves."

Kozan and neighbor Carol Ruggeri also said they were aware that authorities were monitoring someone in the neighborhood.

"We figured it was drug related or terrorist related," Kozan said. "There were rumors it might have been them."

Ruggeri said she was not informed by her neighborhood association that there was surveillance in the community. She added that Sabir and others in the home "were here, and then they were not here."

"The cars would be gone for a long period of time," said Ruggeri, 62, area executive director of the American Lung Association.

Kozan said she complained to a security guard about six or eight cars that were parked in the neighborhood Saturday morning, but she was told that they belonged to law enforcement authorities.

Kozan said that when Sabir wasn't wearing medical clothing, she would see him in what appeared to her as traditional Muslim garb.

"Just because someone dresses differently doesn't mean they're terrorists," Kozan said.

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MIM :FAU professor Bassem Al Halabi comes from Syria where his family has a company.

He worked there between 1987 -1990.

3 Y) Electrical and Computer Engineer/Manager, 1987-1990. Alhalabi Industries Inc., Damascus Syria (AII is an industrial and consumer R&D company). Duties included designing, prototyping, and testing of multidisciplinary industrial and consumer projects dealing with analog, digital, software, control, packaging, mechanical, materials, and printing.

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Bassem Alhalabi Settles Charges
Concerning the Illegal Export of
Thermal Imaging Camera to Syria

The U.S. Department of Commerce today imposed a one-year denial of export privileges on Bassem Alhalabi to resolve charges that Mr. Alhalabi caused the export of a thermal imaging camera to Syria without the license required under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) charged that, on March 12, 1998, Alhalabi caused the export of a thermal imaging camera to Syria in violation of the EAR. Thermal imaging cameras are controlled for export to Syria for national security, regional stability, and anti-terrorism reasons.

Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Lisa A. Prager commended the Office of Export Enforcement's San Jose Field Office for its efforts in this investigation. http://www.bis.doc.gov/News/2003/AlhalabiGetsDPL.htm

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MIM: Islamic Center of Boca Raton Incorporation papers

Florida Limited Liability


ISLAMIC CENTER OF BOCA RATON, LLC



PRINCIPAL ADDRESS
3100 NW 5TH AVE
BOCA RATON FL 33431 US
Changed 04/13/2005



MAILING ADDRESS
PO BOX 273364
BOCA RATON FL 33427 US
Changed 04/13/2005


Document Number
L04000020016
FEI Number
650870204
Date Filed
03/15/2004
State
FL
Status
ACTIVE
Effective Date
03/10/2004
Total Contribution
0.00



Registered Agent
Name & Address
SANHAJI, MOHAMMED
PO BOX 273364
BOCA RATON FL 33427
Name Changed: 04/13/2005
Address Changed: 04/13/2005


Manager/Member Detail
Name & Address Title
KHAN, JALAL
4756 FOXHUNT TR

BOCA RATON FL 33487 US

MGR
ALHALABI, BASSEM
9620 VIA EMILIE

BOCA RATON FL 33428 US

MGR
SANHAJI, MOHAMMED
6667 NW 81ST CT

PARKLAND FL 33067 US

MGR
ISLAMIC CENTER OF BOCA RATON
3100 NW 5TH AVE

BOCA RATON FL 33431

MGRM
QURESHI, KHALID
10750 FOX GLEN DR

BOCA RATON FL 33428 US

MGR
ABDELRAHMAN, MOBARAK
634 NW 13TH ST #12

BOCA RATON FL 33486 US

MGR

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