[i][red]in fake cashier's checks.  Oops.[/red][/i]

[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=578&u=/nm/20020720/ts_nm/attack_trainee_dc_1&printer=1[/url]
[b]U.S. Arrests Suspected Al Qaeda Trainee -Report[/b]
[i]Sat Jul 20, 1:26 AM ET[/i]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials have arrested a Jordanian-born man alleged to have $12 million in fake cashier's checks and said they suspected he trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

"It has really alarmed a lot of people that al Qaeda may be trying to get that much money into the United States for operational purposes," one official told the Post.

"We don't know what he was up to, but he was coming from Indonesia, he had $12 million in bogus checks ... he was born in Jordan and his family is from Chechnya. There is a lot of smoke there to investigate," the official added.

Authorities at the FBI ( news - web sites) were not immediately available to comment on the report.

The United States has linked Muslim rebels in Indonesia to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the Sept. 11 attacks.

Officials said 47-year-old Omar Shishani was detained on Wednesday when he arrived at Detroit's Metropolitan Airport, according to the report. It said Shishani's Dearborn, Michigan, home, where he lives with his wife, was searched Thursday.

Shishani told officials he was a naturalized U.S. citizen, and was carrying a passport, the Post said. His court-appointed federal defender declined to comment to the newspaper.

Officials said Shishani's name appeared on a watch list of people trained in Afghanistan by al Qaeda and also in documents found in Afghanistan, the paper said.

Officials said they did not know how the checks would have been used, but that they were "extremely well made," according to the paper.

Shishani was in custody until his detention hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, the paper said.

*checks AR-180B magazines

Hmmm, I don't buy this.... Try to find a flight originating in Indonesia that flys into DTW. Sounds like a good excuse for more homefront-defending dollars.

"Look everyone! this is paying off already!"



Um, They could just have bought some savings bonds... I mean, c'mon please. I could get 12 mil into this country with my eyes closed! You think real terrorists are this stupid? Try a speedboat from Cuba... or a small cessna ... or British Columbia. The media is making the story for everyone. And I for one am sick of the hyperbole they spew.

For what it's worth, Northwest flies from Jakarta to DTW via stop-off's in Changi (Singapore) and Narita (Tokyo).

DUH!!  Did it say a DIRECT flight????  NO!!!!  What, you can't get to Detroit from Indonesia?

Some people are as bad as the media, going off half cocked with BS.

After watching the movie "Training Day" last night with Denzel Washington, it makes me wonder how much money he REALLY HAD on him...

Interesting that it was only Cashier's Checks.  What about the cash?????  A million here, a million there...

[chainsawkill]

You guys need to read the fine print, he had $12 million in couterfit checks!! Not real money. That is the key problem is that counterfit checks are bad on the economy for every one.

[beer]

I bet $12M wouldn't be bad for HIS economy!  LOL.  Glad they caught the murderous bastard.

another victim of the Patriot Act [sarcasm]

And for any of you guys from the Detroit area, this sob was from DEARBORN!!!!!!  Shocking!

just to let the rest of you in on Michigan's dirty little secret:  Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arabs outside of the middle east

That's a lotta change for a pizza delivery guy.