Buffalo Six

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Buffalo, NY shown in red. Lackawanna is a small city, adjacent to Buffalo to the south. On the west is Lake Erie at the mouth of theNiagara River strait separating Ontario Province, Canada.
Buffalo, NY shown in red. Lackawanna is a small city, adjacent to Buffalo to the south. On the west is Lake Erie at the mouth of theNiagara River strait separating Ontario Province, Canada.

The Buffalo Six (also known as Lackawanna Six, Lakawanna Cell, or Buffalo Cell) is a group of six Yemeni-Americans who were convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda. The six are American citizens by birth.

They traveled to Afghanistan in spring 2001, before the September 11, 2001 attacks, while the country was still ruled by the Taliban, who were then giving sanctuary to Osama bin Laden, who in turn used it as a base for al-Qaeda training.[1] The group visited what later became known in the American media as the "al-Farooq terrorist training camp."[2]

In the late summer of 2002, one of the members, Muktar al-Bakri, sent an e-mail in which he described an upcoming wedding and another in which he mentioned a "big meal". In the past the word "wedding" had been used as a code for a terrorist attack and "big meal" as code for an explosive.[citation needed] The CIA, who were monitoring him, sounded the alarm and al-Bakri was arrested by Bahrainian police, just before the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York[3]. Upon arrest al-Bakri told the FBI he had overheard talk of an attack and had used code because he was afraid Al-Qaeda were monitoring his e-mail.

The other five were arrested in Lackawanna, New York, a city adjacent to Buffalo, New York in September 2002. On September 14, 2002, the FBI held a press conference in Buffalo to announce the arrests of five of the local al-Qaeda suspects. The FBI Special Agent in charge of the investigation, Peter Ahearn, stated that there was no specific event triggering the arrests, which followed four to eight months of investigations.[2]. Later, FBI counterterrorism chief Dale Watson told The New York Times that the bureau's response was that "we are probably 99 percent sure that we can make sure these guys don't do something - if they are planning to do something." Watson paraphrased the President's response as that "under the rules that we were playing under at the time, that's not acceptable. So a conscious decision was made, 'Let's get 'em out of here'"[3].

Investigators found a rifle, a telescopic sight, and a cassette tape in Al-Bakri's house. Investigators say that when played, the tape "asks Allah to give Jews and their enablers (U.S.) a black day."

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[edit] Elbaneh's escape

Jaber A. Elbaneh
Jaber A. Elbaneh

A member of the Lackawanna Cell, Jaber A. Elbaneh, never returned to the U.S. after his trip to Afghanistan and in September 2003, the FBI announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2006 after joining a successful group prison break and was named as one of 23 people, 12 of them Al-Qaeda members, who escaped on February 3, 2006.

On February 23, 2006 the U.S. FBI confirmed the escape, as they issued a national Press Release naming Elbaneh as one of the first new additions, since inception in 2001, to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.[4]

On May 20, 2007, Elbaneh turned himself in to Yemen authorities on the condition that his prison sentence would not be extended.

[edit] Hijazi's death

Ahmed Hijazi aka Jalal aka Kamal Derwish, who was incinerated in a car with five others by a Hellfire from a CIA Predator in Yemen 2002 November 3, may have been the ringleader/recruiter[5]. He was sought after largely because he could clarify how serious a threat the Buffalo Six were[3].

[edit] Sentences

All six pleaded guilty in court to terrorism related charges. They were Mukhtar Al-Bakri, Sahim Alwan, Faysal Galab, Shafal Mosed, Yaseinn Taher, and Yahya Goba.

Yahya Goba and Mukhtar al-Bakri received ten-year prison sentences. Yaseinn Taher and Shafal Mosed received eight-year prison sentences. Sahim Alwan received a nine and a half year sentence. All sentences were for single counts of "providing support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization". In discussing the plea bargain agreements, US prosecutors commented the defendants had cooperated with federal terrorism investigators, providing detailed information on Al-Qaeda membership, training, and methods.

As of 2007, they are in the Communications Management Unit (CMU) in Terre Haute, Indiana.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Critics call Indiana prison rules too restrictive The Buffalo News
  2. ^ a b coldtype.net. Is the Buffalo, NY terrorist cell for real? (pdf), December 14, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  3. ^ a b c Suskind, R. The One Percent Doctrine
  4. ^ FBI.gov. FBI national Press Release, RECENT ESCAPEES FROM YEMEN PRISON ADDED TO MOST WANTED TERRORISTS AND SEEKING INFORMATION - WAR ON TERRORISM LISTS, February 23, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  5. ^ cnn.com.

[edit] External links