A key government witness in the trial of four men accused of acting as a “sleeper” terrorist cell testified Tuesday that the men wanted to use his experience in credit card and document fraud to support Islamic extremism. Youssef Hmimssa said the men wanted to raise money to send arms to the Middle East and bring Algerian men illegally to the United States. And he said defendant Farouk Ali-Haimoud tried to convince him that civilians could be targeted in promoting the spread of Islamic law. “You have to operate undercover and you have to act like one of them … like the infidels,” Hmimssa testified that Ali-Haimoud told him. Ali-Haimoud, Karim Koubriti, Ahmed Hannan and their alleged handler Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi are charged with conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists. The trial is the first in the United States for an alleged terror cell detected following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Koubriti, Hannan and Ali-Haimoud were arrested six days after the attacks, when authorities raided a Detroit apartment and found items including a day planner that prosecutors allege lays out terrorist plots. The raid also turned up false IDs that used photos of Hmimssa, who was arrested less than two weeks later in Iowa. Full Story
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