“The imam said he frequently gives money to needy people, particularly former members of his mosque.”
Yes, the jihadi for whom he was buying the weapons was very needy. He needed to kill some Infidels.
“Feds link Detroit terror suspect to ISIS supporter,” by Robert Snell, Detroit News, August 22, 2017:
Detroit — Federal prosecutors Monday linked Sebastian Gregerson to a Virginia man who threatened to commit a domestic terror attack in support of the Islamic State.
The link was revealed in a 47-page federal court filing that more fully describes ties between Gregerson and like-minded associates, including a radical imam in Maryland who bankrolled Gregerson’s weapons purchases. The filing also alleges Gregerson received more money from the imam than previously disclosed.
Prosecutors linked Gregerson to the Virginia man, Yusuf Wehelie, while reminding U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow that courts nationwide have given stiffer sentences to protect the public from unrepentant Islamic State supporters who are likely to wage jihad upon release from prison.
“(Gregerson) views himself as soldier for ISIS,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Cathleen Corken wrote in the filing Monday. “Like any soldier, he is unlikely to relinquish this view of his identity by virtue of being in prison. In fact, he considers himself a prisoner of war. Once released, he is likely to resume his activities for ‘jihad in the cause of Allah.’”
Gregerson, 30, of Detroit, will be sentenced Aug. 30, five months after he struck a plea deal with prosecutors, admitting he acquired a fragmentation grenade last summer from an undercover FBI employee, a 10-year felony because the grenade was an unregistered destructive device.
Gregerson should spend more than five years in federal prison, prosecutors said, though judges have broad discretion and can exceed the recommended sentence….
In December, prosecutors said Gregerson was backed by a group of like-minded supporters in Maryland, including a radical imam.
The Detroit News previously revealed that the FBI was investigating Maryland imam Suleiman Bengharsa, who was identified in search warrant affidavits accidentally unsealed in federal court in September. The Detroit News obtained copies of the affidavits before they could be sealed by a judge.
Bengharsa financed part of Gregerson’s weapons arsenal and FBI counterterrorism investigators believed the Maryland imam and the Detroit man were plotting violent jihad, according to the sealed documents.
Bengharsa has not been charged with a crime during the ongoing investigation. In an earlier, exclusive interview with The News, Bengharsa denied being an Islamic State supporter.
Bengharsa helped finance Gregerson’s arsenal, which included two AK-47s, handguns, seven rifles, a shotgun and thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to the court records. It is unknown whether the imam was financing weapons purchases in other parts of the country.
Bank records obtained by the FBI showed the imam wrote a $1,300 check to Gregerson on June 24, 2015.
In the memo line on the check was the word “zakat,” a word referring to the Muslim obligation to give to charity, according to the FBI.
Gregerson cashed the check days later and deposited $800 in his checking account, the FBI said. It was the largest deposit Gregerson had made since opening the account.
“An analysis of Gregerson’s bank account reveals that the $800 provided by Bengharsa financed several of the purchases …,” including tactical knives, dummy rounds and Japanese swords, the FBI agent wrote in court records.
The imam said he frequently gives money to needy people, particularly former members of his mosque.
On Monday, prosecutors revealed Bengharsa sent more money to Gregerson than was previously disclosed.
Gregerson deposited a $1,200 check from the imam on June 24, 2016, prosecutors wrote Monday.
The next day, Gregerson withdrew $500 and bought a rifle for $486, according to the court filing. Days later, Gregerson withdrew $480 and bought a Glock handgun.
Gregerson’s weapons purchases coincided with plans to wage an unspecified terror attack in support of the Islamic State, prosecutors said.
The money Gregerson spent was significant considering he made $9.50/hour stocking shelves at Target, prosecutors said. One gun purchase roughly equaled the amount of his $489.16 bi-weekly paycheck.
“The defendant spent an increasing proportion of his small salary on weapons and weapon-related accessories in answer to ISIS’s call to amass weaponry, rather than on necessities for his wife and two young children,” the prosecutor wrote.
mike9a says
putting both in prison is so Islamophobic
Rob says
Beheading them both would be very islamic.
jule says
Did anyone listen to the sermons of this Imam to see if he quotes incitement messages?
Ren says
Deportation would be best.
D Austin says
“Gregerson’s arsenal, which included two AK-47s, handguns, seven rifles, a shotgun and thousands of rounds of ammunition.” That about describes many “preppers” and conservative types all over rural America. I’m still amazed that no one has started shooting during the current communist overthrow attempt. Guess martial law would be bad news for everyone involved.
The law enforcement growth industry definitely stands to gain by allowing these people to continue their mosque recruiting. Their manta every year at legislatures is: “we need more laws, more money, and more personnel.”
gravenimage says
Ah….right. Jihad is not a real threat–just Western law enforcement…
balam says
Any Mosque involved in Terrorist activities should be demolished and its leader jailed for life .Muslims are nothing but a gang of CRIMINALS like its fake prophet.
John W says
As Robert typically says, how could an Imam, dedicated to understanding the true Religion of Peace, come to a conclusion that this was ok.
Jack Diamond says
To flesh this out a little more—
“Gregerson grew up near Ann Arbor and converted to Islam after high school. He is married, the father of 4-year-old twins and, until his arrest, worked retail at a Target store.
Gregerson and the imam met about five years ago in Maryland, the FBI alleges.
“Suleiman Bengharsa is the former imam of a mosque Gregerson attended while living in Maryland,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit.
Gregerson lived in Windsor Mill, Maryland, from 2011 to 2014.
During that time, Bengharsa was imam at the Masjid Umar mosque in Woodlawn – less than three miles from Gregerson’s apartment – according to the imam’s LinkedIn page
By 2015, Gregerson had moved to Detroit and started amassing tactical knives, according to the FBI.
“(Islamic State) members have used knives that appear similar to those purchased by Gregerson in beheadings, such as those seen in the videos of ‘Jihadi John’ beheading western hostages,” an FBI agent wrote in one search warrant affidavit.
“The nature of Gregerson’s purchases roughly correlate with instructions given by (the Islamic State) to individuals living in Western countries on how to prepare to commit violent jihad in those countries,” the FBI agent wrote in a filing.
The FBI subpoenaed Gregerson’s phone records and learned he was in frequent phone contact with Bengharsa while amassing the arsenal.
{Meanwhile}
“Bengharsa is founder and director of the Islamic Jurisprudence Center, an independent legal resource center near Baltimore that promotes understanding of Shariah law.
“(Islamic Jurisprudence Center) management firmly believes and propagates that Islamic law is divine law, and therefore, unequivocally superior to man-made laws,” according to the center’s website.
According to Shariah law, one-eighth of all charitable donations at a mosque, called zakat, must go to fund jihad around the world, retired Homeland Security officer Philip Haney told WND. And approximately 80 percent of America’s more than 3,000 mosques are financed by Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most Shariah-compliant nation in the world.
Imam Bengharsa, 59, laughed and scoffed at the FBI’s allegations, which he told the Detroit newspaper were “ridiculous.” He also denied being an ISIS supporter and dismissed the charges as a witch hunt against Muslims.
“It feels like McCarthyism,” Bengharsa told the newspaper.
“No, no, no, that is absolutely untrue,” Bengharsa added. “It might appear that way. I am an advocate of the United States and the West getting the hell out of the Middle East and the Muslim world.
“It’s ridiculous. All I can say is it’s ridiculous,” he added. “If this was the case, why haven’t they come to arrest me?”
He said he would rather go to jail than live in a country that goes the route of McCarthyism.
“Yet another Islamic leader is found to be directly involved with jihad on behalf of some named jihadi group, all for the sake of Islam,” said former FBI counter-terrorism specialist John Guandolo, “He joins the ranks of Alamoudi, Awlaki, and so many others. And he does it all while laughing at us and throwing ‘McCarthyism’ in our face. Our leaders will probably apologize to him for executing the legal search warrant based on facts.”
Search warrant affidavits that revealed the focus on the imam were briefly unsealed in federal court in Detroit this week and obtained by The News before a federal magistrate resealed them.”
https://counterjihadreport.com/tag/suleiman-bengharsa/
{Nor is he new on the radar}
Bengharsa has been an Islamic cleric in the Baltimore area for more than 10 years. During that time he has drawn FBI attention for his fiery sermons, which, like Choudary’s, walk right up to the legal line of incitement.
Bengharsa is a former civil servant employed by both the federal government and the state of Maryland. He worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce as an international trade specialist, a position that paid over $80,000 a year.
Bengharsa resigned in 2006 after admitting to plagiarism, records show. He filed for unemployment compensation, which was contested by the Department of Commerce and upheld by a D.C. administrative judge. From there Bengharsa applied to the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to be a prison chaplain. He worked in the state prison system until 2009 when he filed for worker’s compensation, alleging he was hurt lifting a box of books.
{We have a “radical” imam. Let’s make him a prison chaplain of course}
—from IPT News 10/17/16
According to the Ny Times article in 2016 “On Facebook, he (Bengharsa) has openly endorsed the Islamic State, posted gruesome videos showing ISIS fighters beheading and burning alive their enemies and praised terrorist attacks overseas.”
Snapshots of deleted FB postings include this after the Nice attack: “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! …one more painful strike inside the territories of the enemies of Allah! May Allah send more punishment on them! May Allah break their backs!! Ameen!!!”
“America you are splitting apart!! It is from what your hands have brought forth! You have committed too many injustices! It’s payback time!!! And, how beautiful it is that you can’t even see it! ! We keep praying that Allah grant you and your allies what you deserve! We wish to get closer to Allah by standing against you!!”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/us/maryland-imam-fbi-suleiman-anwar-bengharsa.html?_r=2
boakai ngombu says
and how many more imams are touting SHARIA culture as this imam, a slave of the allah god of islam (unknowable; the best of all deceivers)?
Jack Diamond says
How many are not?
balam says
Saudi Arabia is the real source of International terrorism through the MOSQUES it builds in the KAFIR LAND and supports .You have got to destroy the source .How long will the WEST remain SPINELESS ? Iran is another source of trouble in the world .It is mad to give billions of dollars in AID to Pakistan, Egypt and other Muslim countries .You will never find even one SNAKE which is loyal and faithful.
Joe says
Thanks for taking this to the next level.
overman says
lt’s not just imams. A few days ago the FBI released information about a group of welsh companies in the UK financing Islamic State terror plots in the US and helped ship military-grade equipment to Syria and Spain – according to FBI documents.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiff-company-sent-money-would-13509403
Cardiff company sent money to would-be ISIS terrorists.
FBI documents claim that thousands of pounds was sent through Cardiff companies to fund terrorism.
“Filed in a US federal court in Baltimore, the FBI documents show that a Mohamed Elshinawy, of Maryland, US, received $3,000 on May 14, 2015, by Ibacs.
FBI documents claim that Elshinawy pretended to buy printers from Ibacs as cover through Paypal but that no evidence of any printers was found”
Jack Diamond says
Elshinawy was arrested for taking money from Islamic State operatives to conduct terror operations in the United States. According to the Justice Department, he received $8,700 in all, most of it through PayPal.
These Cardiff companies also purchased military-grade surveillance equipment intended for the Islamic State, using PayPal accounts.
PayPal, banning critics of Islamic jihad, enabling Islamic jihadis to commit murder and mayhem.
balam says
DECEPTION-THY NAME IS ISLAM.
ceb says
An enemy combatant live among us is a spy, should they not be executed if convicted?
balam says
Every Muslim is a COMBATANT JIHADI living in the West which is DAR-UL-HARB meaning house of war according to the teaching of ISLAM .Time has come for every Non-Muslim to know the reality of this dangerous CULT OF ARABIA called ISLAM. It is more lethal than LEPORSY.
Mike Blackford says
A quick fair trial followed by a first class hanging televised thru out sand land but that’s just me
balam says
I second it.
Mike Blackford says
People…whats it going to take? Get these sub humans out of our countries NOW. Let them practice whatever they want in their country of origin. They’ll end up killing each other over “made up” religion.
Guy Forester says
At the very least, our government needs to stop this crap of treating each one of these incidents as individual, unrelated, criminal acts. These need to be viewed as military operations by those that declared war on us (we know who the are, but cannot name them, especially since OPEC Oil Money is involved) and these out of uniform soldiers, regardless of citizenship, need to be treated as such. At the very least, send them to Gitmo. Other good locations would be Midway, Wake, and Johnston atoll.. The local courts have no jurisdiction over military courts and military operations.
By the way, isn’t Phil Haney the guy said he was required to destroy all of his research and data when he retired? If so, this is the guy that said his data could have been used to prevent the San Bernardino massacre.
Georg says
That’s racist. I don’t mean the attempt at slaughtering those who aren’t “their own kind”. I mean any of us acknowledging their attempt.
(paraphrasing idiots)
gravenimage says
Maryland imam bankrolled purchase of weapons for jihad massacre inside U.S.
…………………..
This is what Zakat *is for*.
Michael Copeland says
All credit to Assistant U.S. Attorney Cathleen Corken, who wrote
“Like any soldier, ….. he considers himself a prisoner of war. Once released, he is likely to resume his activities for ‘jihad in the cause of Allah.’”
Jihadis consistently inform the West of their war, “We are at war and I am a soldier”, said one of the London 7/7 bombers. This is not a pitiable self-delusion: it is Islamic doctrine.