In the three stories below you will find: global jihadists, anarchists, Hizballah, cocaine, counterfeit clothing, cash transfers, guns, dirty bomb plans, psychedelic mushrooms, global jihad on and off the Internet and last, but not least, child porn.
What's not to like...
Spain: Islamic terrorist cell members sentenced
Madrid, 29 Oct. (AKI) - Abdelkader Ayachine and Wissam Lofti, two of the six alleged terrorists belonging to an Islamist cell in the northern Spanish city of Burgos, have been convicted of inciting Jihad (holy war) through the Internet, and to have provided financial support to jailed Islamists.Spanish paramilitary police last week detained the alleged members believed to have been involved in recruiting jihadists to carry out terror attacks internationally, including in Iraq reported Spanish daily El Mundo.
The judge said Ayachine and Lofti: "form part of an organised group belonging to a Salafite-jihadi movement, with important links to radical Islamic terrorism, created around an extremist leader, radical and violent that exerts huge influence and power over the rest of the members."
All the suspects have ties to fundamentalist (Salafite) jihadi ideology, according to Spain's interior ministry.
Ayachine, considered the leader of the Islamist cell, ran a butcher's shop in the city of Burgos, was also accused of child pornography, because according to the magistrate he "downloaded and transferred numerous photos and videos of child pornography"
The rest of the detained have been released but must report every 15 days to the court.
Authorities Raid Urbandale [Iowa] Man's Apartment
An Urbandale man is being investigated after witnesses reported hearing him talk about making a dirty bomb.
Two witnesses told law enforcement that Justin Sheridan has done things and said things that they consider a threat to the public. That was enough for law enforcement to open an investigation that they classify as a terrorism threat case.
State and local agents moved in to search Sheridan’s apartment and vehicle last week.
A written statement to law enforcement from an informant states that "(Sheridan) told me he's found out how to make...a fertilizer bomb, and that he doesn't expect to live long...so he said he's going to go out with a bang...he's an anarchist."
The statement also said, "I notified the FBI because he's started to collect smoke detectors for material in making a bomb... using the radioactive material in the detectors."
A second informant told law enforcement, "Justin Sheridan wanted (me) to provide smoke detectors from the job sites...so that he could remove the 'Alpha emitter to make a bomb.'"
A task force of agents searched Sheridan's apartment and found "a cardboard box with smoke detector parts wrapped in tin foil. The parts are Americium - 241 Alpha Emitters."
"This individual was attempting to collect very small, minute traces of radioactive material that's in a smoke detector. But as I understand it, it's such a minute amount of radiation that it really doesn't pose a problem to anybody unless they actually ingest it," said James Saunders with Iowa Department of Public Safety.
Agents also seized computer equipment, guns, gun magazines, ammunition, a "tactical" black vest and ski mask, and a vibrating lock pick.
Agents told KCCI that, while searching the apartment, they found evidence of an illegal psychedelic mushroom growing operation. They called in drug agents, who sought a second search warrant to focus on the drugs.
The informant who went to the FBI told law enforcement, "After Virginia Tech, Columbine and other incidents, I didn't want any potential loss of life having not done anything to stop it."
"He did pose a risk. And so we're fortunate that the public stepped up and reported the suspicious activity, and law enforcement took immediate action," Saunders said.
Saunders said the public was not at risk from the radioactive material because it was so small an amount. Agents are testing the weapons found, and they're searching Sheridan's computer before deciding whether to file any charges.
Sheridan was booked at the Polk County Jail and has since been released.
Busted Los Angeles drug ring had ties to Hezbollah
WASHINGTON - A seemingly small-time drug ring busted this week in Los Angeles was actually targeted for funding the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, the Daily News has learned.Posted on 11 November 2007 @ 15:48 GMTProsecutors left out the terror tie when they announced Tuesday that federal agents and local cops had arrested a dozen people for allegedly peddling cocaine and counterfeit clothing in Bell, Calif.
But several sources familiar with the investigation said the predominantly Arab-American gang was believed to have smuggled its crime cash to the Iranian-backed terror group.
"This was a classic case of terrorism financing, and it was pretty sophisticated how they did it," a source close to Operation Bell Bottoms told The News.
The defendants once crammed $123,000 in money orders into a stuffed animal flown to Lebanon, an indictment alleged.
The Justice Department's national security division and an FBI counterterrorism agent have signed all the court filings.
Because information linking the gang to Hezbollah came from classified intelligence, the alleged ringleader and "his siblings and associates" face criminal charges instead of a terror rap.