Washington, Nov 7: In a rather unfortunate turn of incidents, two brothers of Indian origin were among four persons charged by the U.S. on Thursday with providing support to Al-Qaeda and defrauding the U.S. banking system. However, both the Indian youth and their family members have rubbished the allegations of links with terror network.
“According to the allegations in the indictment, Farooq Mohammad, Ibrahim Mohammad, Asif Salim and Sultane Salim conspired to provide and did provide material support to Anwar Al-Awlaki in response to his calls to support violent jihad,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin.
“The charges in this case outline a plan to send thousands of dollars to a known terrorist,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach.
The incidents alleged in the indictment took place between January 2005 and January 2012 when the defendants allegedly “conspired to provide money, equipment and other assistance to Anwar Al-Awlaki.”
“The indictment also alleged that the defendants’ support was to be used in furtherance of violent jihad against the U.S. and U.S. military in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world,” the Justice Department said.
The defendants made various financial transactions in 2008 and 2009, and communicated about raising funds for a trip to the Middle East. Farooq and Ibrahim are charged with “opening credit cards and withdrawing money with no intention of repaying the amounts obtained from the financial institutions.”
Farooq (37) came as an engineering student to Ohio State University between 2002 and 2004 and in March 2008, he married a U.S. citizen. Ibrahim (36) studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 to 2005. Later he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and married a U.S. citizen and became a permanent resident in 2007, the Justice Department said.
United States considers Anwar Al-Alwaki to be an Al-Qaeda leader, a charge denied by most of his followers.
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