FBI raid nets six more suspects

By Earl Holland
Staff Writer

SALISBURY -- After 11 local men were taken into custody by Federal Bureau of Investiga-tion agents Thursday morning, more information on the arrests and indictments have come to light.

Taken into custody were six additional suspects not mentioned in the original list of 39 men indicted. The names and locations of the newly detained suspects are not known.

On Thursday, FBI agents and local law enforcement arrested Mohammad Gujjar, Moham-mad Ijaz, Javed Iqbal I, Aqeel Khalid and Zakir Mahmood, all of Snow Hill; Javed Iqbal II, Muhammad Razzaq Butt and Saeed Ahmed, all of Salisbury; Upendrakumar Somabhai Patel and Muhammad Chaudhry of Parsonsburg and Muhammad Ashraf of Princess Anne.

Of the local men arrested, only Gujjar and Ijaz were naturalized U.S. citizens; the rest were illegal immigrants from Pakistan, according to court documents.

Marcy Murphy of the United States District Court of Maryland said the 11 suspects arrested locally have no connection to the other 28 men named in indictments except for all the suspects interacted with the same cooperating witness, who was perceived by the suspects to be an immigration official who could issue illegitimate green cards.

Capt. Stuart Murray of the Worcester County Sheriff's Office said two uniformed deputies were sent to the morning raid after receiving a call from FBI the night before.

"The reasoning to this is because if residents who are unaware of the situation see local law enforcement working with FBI agents in an operation like this, it makes people feel a little more comfortable," he said.

Murray also said the Sheriff's Office's interaction with the FBI is not rare; they also offer assistance to the deputies.

Indictment documents released by the United States District Court of Maryland on Thursday show about $500,000 in bribes were provided to immigration officials to illegally issue green cards for themselves and family members from as early as December 2005 to as recently as Aug. 30.

The stores named in the indictment include the Chicken Man and Your Stop convenience stores and gas stations in Snow Hill, the Your Store in Princess Anne, Thirsty's convenience stores located on South Salisbury Boulevard and in Delmar and the Cross Road Food Mart located on Old Ocean City Road.

The documents also state the Your Stop owned by Gujjar owed nearly $315,000 in outstanding sales and use taxes, and the Chicken Man owned by Ijaz failed to pay about $475,000, which was only a fraction of the $1.8 million in state tax assessments levied against two businesses.

Gujjar, Ijaz, Iqbal I and Ahmed, along with other members of the business enterprise, Mohammad Akh-tar of Jersey City, N.J., and Mohammad Asif of Milwaukee, Wis., were all charged jointly on racketeering and can face up to 20 years if convicted.

A court date has not been set.

eholland@dmg.gannett.com

410-845-4633

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /709220316

For all we know, Osama Bin Laden could be living in the US. Only God knows who is here. What's worse is the Bush administration doesn't care. Otherwise, our borders and ports would have been secured starting on 911.