Thread: Saddam Spy Caught at Peace Bridge

Updated: 12/30/08 08:33 AM

Saddam spy is caught at Peace Bridge

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

A Canadian citizen who was stopped at the Peace Bridge while trying to enter this country was charged Monday with conspiring to spy for his native Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

The Justice Department criminal complaint accuses Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, 47, of accepting payment from Iraqi government officials and intelligence officers for his information.

Darwish, who lived and worked in Maryland at the time, beginning in 2000 passed along secrets that included the news that the American military was training Iraqi volunteers in this country.

Darwish and a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty are among at least a dozen people charged by the Justice Department since the American invasion of Iraq with spying on behalf of the Iraqi government or its intelligence agency under Saddam, federal authorities said.

Darwish was arrested on an FBI warrant last Wednesday at the border crossing in Buffalo. He is scheduled to appear today in U. S. District Court here. A Justice Department spokesman did not know Monday whether Darwish has a lawyer.

After today, any future proceedings will take place in Maryland, said William J. Hochul Jr., chief of the National Security Division in the U. S. attorney’s office in Buffalo.

Darwish was attempting to cross from Canada to the United States at about 5:30 p. m. on Christmas Eve when he was sent over for secondary inspection, said Kevin Corsaro, a spokesman for U. S. Customs and Border Protection in Buffalo.

“During the course of the secondary inspection, our officers became aware of the FBI want,â€

Suspected Saddam Hussein spy in N.Y. court

BUFFALO, New York (AP) — A Canadian citizen accused of spying in the United States for his native Iraq will be returned to Maryland to face federal charges.

Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish was arrested coming from Canada Dec. 24 when border agents in Buffalo discovered he was the subject of an FBI warrant.

A federal judge denied his request for bail during a brief hearing Tuesday.

A criminal complaint filed by Justice Department officials in Maryland on Monday contends that the 47-year-old provided information to Saddam Hussein's regime in 2000 and later while working as a restaurant cook in Maryland and doing odd jobs at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington.

He could face up to five years in prison if convicted on the charge of conspiracy to act as an agent for a foreign government.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008 ... pect_N.htm