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To fake a hate crime. Hate crimes offer considerable capital for the victims these days. From the Seattle Times:
Mirza Akram, 37, owner of Continental Spices Cash & Carry was arrested at the store yesterday on a federal warrant accusing him of arson. Police also said a second man helped set the July 9 fire that caused an estimated $50,000 damage."We suspected him right away," said Julianne Marshall, spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Marshall declined to go into detail about why Akram was immediately suspected of the arson.
After the fire was doused at the grocery, at 315 E. Casino Road, Everett police and firefighters found a gasoline can and a derogatory message directed toward Arabs spray-painted on a wall. A white cross was spray-painted on a refrigerator in the back of the store, which specializes in Pakistani, Indian and Middle Eastern groceries. Nobody was injured in the fire.
Everett police spokesman Sgt. Boyd Bryant said investigators believe the store owner set the fire because he was experiencing financial difficulty. "That was his motive, to collect from insurance," Bryant said....
Marshall said Akram will appear before a federal magistrate today to be read his formal charges and to learn his bail amount. She said the minimum mandatory federal sentence for arson is five years in prison.
Rupinder Bedi, who owns a 7-Eleven next to the grocery, said he saw Akram crying after the fire. Bedi said the store owner told him he had been harassed by some customers earlier this summer.
Bedi said Akram told him the verbal slurs didn't stop until he threatened to call police.
Samia El-Moslimany, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Seattle, said Akram had been in contact with her agency soon after the fire. El-Moslimany asked the FBI to investigate the fire as a possible hate crime.
Posted by Robert at August 20, 2004 5:25 PM
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Well, that's one way out of financial difficulties! Too bad this Akram got nabbed before
exacting a large payout from Insurance and getting
heaps of sympathy as a 'hate crime.' Yes, it's HATE against us and thinking we are all suckers for a sob story...
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at August 20, 2004 6:13 PM
The article states that a second man tried to help Akram with the arson but the man set his pants on fire instead. I just hope he roasted his weiner!
Posted by: 3812Michelle at August 20, 2004 6:56 PM
Ha Ha. Karen Armstrong will be the character witness
Posted by: hutchrun at August 21, 2004 12:04 AM
Here is a link to the coverage from the local Everett Wa. Newspaper:
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/04/08/21/loc_arsons001.cfm
They buried the fake-hate-crime aspect down at the bottom and fail to call it a 'fake hate crime'.
at August 21, 2004 12:39 PM
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