Thread: Afghan National Arrested in CA for Ties to al Qaeda

February 20, 2009
Afghan National Arrested in CA for Ties to al Qaeda [UPDATED & BUMPED]

*** BUMPED *** Updates at end of post ***

Actually, he wasn't arrested for his ties to al Qaeda. He is being indicted for lying to immigration officers. The lie?

He said he had no relationship with al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban.

There are lies on visa and passport applications, and then there are lies.

What this probably means is that the feds have been watching his activities for some time hoping to establish a deeper connection, but they instead went for the low-hanging fruit and indicted him on the easiest thing to prove:

The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges [34 year old Ahmadullah Sais] Niazi hid associations with "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he completed nationalization papers five years ago. During one visit, the government alleges Niazi visited Dr. Amin al-Haq, the security coordinator for Osama bin Laden.

Charges against Niazi include perjury, naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport obtained by fraud and making a false statement to a federal agency. He is scheduled to make a court appearance this afternoon at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.

Great. I'm sure he and bin Laden's security coordinator were just chatting about the impact of global warming on the Khyber Pass.

I'll also note that he was arrested by FBI agents on the counter terrorism task force, not ICE officials.

I did a little Googling, and there's an Ahmadullah Niazi in Orange County -- the county just south of LA that the Niazi in the story lives in -- that has a company in Tustin called "T & A Trading Group". The contact is "Ahmad Niazi". Niazi's company apparently in the wholesale computer and electronics business.

Hmmmm, I seem to remember another Orange County computer geek with an affinity for the Taliban and al Qaeda.




Would be the same "Ahmed" Niazi cited in this article which notes that he's 33 and lives in Orange County. Which would be odd if it is because the story goes on to cite Niazi as being shocked by a friend who had converted to Islam wanting help joining the jihad. The article implies that Niazi testified against the friend.

Both "Ahmed" and "Niazi" are fairly common names, so maybe it's a different person here. Especially given that the man under indictment is from Afghanistan, and the Niazi above taught Arabic.

If any one finds any other information about Niazi, please drop me a line.

UPDATE: I just got a note from Andy Cochran who points me to a PDF of the federal indictment.

I'll post the entire indictment below as text. I'll work on the formatting of it as I read it. Then I'll post some highlights above the text as I work my way through it.

First, for those of you trying to find more info on this guy the indictment says he has a few variation on his name.

AHMADULLAH SAIS NIAZI,
aka Ahmadullah Khan,
aka Ahmadullah Sais,
aka Ahmadullah Sais Khan,
aka Ahmadullah Khan Sais

UPDATED Highlights from indictment: There are five counts in the indictment, each relating to a specific time in which Niazi lied either to an immigration official or on an immigration form.

If I'm getting this right, all of the criminal charges relate to two things. First, that Niazi had been associated with al Qaeda before he came to the US and began naturalization. Second, that after Niazi was living in the US that he traveled to Pakistan where he had contact with al Qaeda figures.

The main person Niazi had contact with was Dr. Amin al-Haq, the security coordinator for Osama bin Laden. What is interesting about this is the wording of count five in the indictment which implies that Niazi is related to al-Haq:

In truth and in fact, as defendant NIAZI then well knew, he had
traveled to Pakistan to visit family, including Dr. Amin al-Haq.
This would be a major problem, wouldn't it? Even if we assume that Niazi is not some kind of sleeper agent, then wouldn't failure to disclose that he was related to a top al Qaeda terrorist be serious?

But the rest of the indictment does seem to indicate that Niazi lied not only about his relationship with known al Qaeda members, but also that he was associated with the group.

Here's the indictment.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN DIVISION
October 2008 Grand Jury

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
AHMADULLAH SAIS NIAZI,
aka Ahmadullah Khan,
aka Ahmadullah Sais,
aka Ahmadullah Sais
Khan,
aka Ahmadullah Khan
Sais,
Defendant.

No. SA CR-_______________
I N D I C T M E N T
[18 U.S.C. § 1621(2): Perjury;
18 U.S.C. § 1425: Procurement
of Naturalization Unlawfully;
18 U.S.C. § 1546(a): Use of
Passport Procured by Fraud; 18
U.S.C. § 1001(a): False
Statement]
_____________________________)
The Grand Jury charges:


COUNT ONE
[18 U.S.C. § 1621(2)]

A. INTRODUCTION

1. Dr. Amin al-Haq, aka Dr. Amin ul-Haq, aka Muhammad Amin (“Dr. Amin al-Haqâ€

This week either Lou Dobbs or Glenn Beck had a anti-terrorist guy on.
He said that 2 dozen potential terrorists are caught crossing our southern border EVERY MONTH!
It isn't being reported to us. Kind of like the 5000 murders in Mehico!

I heard on TV that the next 9-11 will be in Houston Texas. Anyone else see that?

Anyone that comes into our country illegally is a potential terrorist.