California man, son linked to al Qaeda

FBI agents in California have arrested a father and son on charges of lying to federal agents about the son’s training at an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan, where would-be terrorists pasted photos of high-ranking U.S. political figures, including President Bush, on targets to learn to kill Americans.

Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer Hayat, 45, both U.S. citizens and residents of Lodi, Calif., were taken into custody over the weekend by FBI agents in Sacramento, Calif., after interviews and a polygraph examination.

An FBI affidavit said Hamid Hayat admitted attending an al Qaeda training camp in 2003 and 2004, and the trainees were being taught to target “hospitals and large food stores” in the United States.

The arrests, along with the related detention of two Muslim leaders in Lodi on immigration violations, are part of an ongoing FBI investigation into a possible network of al Qaeda supporters seeking to establish a cell operation in the Lodi area — about 40 miles south of Sacramento, law-enforcement authorities said.

The authorities also have confirmed that Islamic radicals are being trained at terrorist camps in Pakistan as part of a conspiracy to send hundreds of operatives to “sleeper cells” in the United States. They said dozens of Islamic extremists already have been routed through Europe and Asia to Muslim communities in this country, based on secret intelligence data and information from terrorists and others detained by U.S. authorities.

Numerous records, computer documents and other items were seized in a search of the Hayat residence and from the homes of the two Islamic leaders, identified as Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Adil Khan, imams at the Farooqia Islamic Center in Lodi.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman Dean Boyd said Mr. Khan and Mr. Ahmed face a hearing on “administrative immigration violations, for violating their religious worker visas.” No date has yet been set.

Authorities yesterday declined to comment on what items had been seized by agents or why.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski denied a bail request for Umer Hayat, a native of Pakistan, saying he was a flight risk and a danger to the community. Umer Hayat’s attorney, Johnny Griffin III, called the accusations “shocking,” noting that his client “is charged with nothing more than lying to an agent.”

Hamid Hayat’s attorney was not in court. A bail hearing in his case was set for tomorrow.

During FBI interviews on Friday, Hamid Hayat — who was born in California — initially denied any involvement in the terrorist training, the affidavit said, saying he “would never be involved with anything related to terrorism.” He changed his story after a polygraph examination.

“Camp attendees were given the opportunity to choose the country in which to carry out their jihadi mission including the United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir and other countries,” said FBI Agent Pedro T. Aguilar in the affidavit. “Hamid advised that he specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his jihadi mission.”

The elder Hayat was arrested on charges of lying about his son’s involvement in the camp when initially questioned by the FBI and about money he sent for the training. Both are being held at the Sacramento County Jail.

Al Qaeda sleeper cells, according to the FBI and other federal authorities, are financed in part by millions of dollars solicited by an extensive network of bogus charities and foundations and the cell members use Muslim communities as cover and places to raise cash and recruit sympathizers.

The September 2002 arrest of seven members of a terrorist cell in Lackawanna, N.Y., just south of Buffalo, N.Y., was a first major clue to their existence. Since then, federal authorities have disrupted more than 150 terrorist cells and threats from Lackawanna to Portland, Ore., incapacitating more than 3,000 known operatives.

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