Immigrants decry federal agents’ raid of Seattle wire transfer business

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Federal agents on Thursday continued examining a grocery store and wire-transfer operation raided as part of an international effort to seal off Osama bin Laden’s financial resources.

Some neighborhood residents, many of them Somali immigrants, angrily protested the raid.

Many say they used Barakat Wire Transfer, whose assets were frozen because of suspected ties to bin Laden’s financial network, to send money to their families, not to terrorists.

Abdirahman Mohamed, 29, of Seattle stood among about 10 protesters along the street outside the Barakat service. He said he sends money every month to his mother in Somalia and worried that other similar wire services would be shut down.

"We came to this country for freedom, and we don’t see it," said Mohamed, who waved a sign reading "Stop the raids on immigrant workers."

"I think this is because we are Muslim."

The owners of Maka Market and Halal Meats and the Amana gift store, also housed in the building, have denied wrongdoing. The two operators of the Barakat agency were questioned, but neither was arrested, officials said.

For many Somalis, the Barakat stores in strip malls, houses and office buildings across the United States have been the way to send money back to their impoverished homeland.

But federal officials say they were part of a terrorist financial network that raised and laundered millions of dollars a year, some of it skimmed for use by bin Laden’s al-Qaida organization and other terrorist networks.

In addition to the Seattle raid, federal warrants were executed Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Boston, Minneapolis, and Columbus, Ohio.

Bin Laden and al-Qaida have been identified as the chief suspects in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

"We’re just trying to create our own little Somalia," said Mahdy Maaweel, manager of the nearby Oowlo Travel and Service, as people in street clothes carted out remaining items from the building Thursday afternoon while police and U.S. Customs agents stood by.

Agents began loading a 20-foot shipping container with boxes of goods from all three businesses on Wednesday.

Market owner Abdinassir Nur shrugged his shoulders when asked when he would be able to reopen his business, now surrounded by police tape. He arrived Wednesday to find federal agents taking items from his store. When he told them he owned a business separate from the wire transfer agency, he was told, "We’re already halfway through."

He thought agents had finished searching the building, but they returned Thursday.

"I’m going to try and find a legal service to see if they can help me," Nur said.

Agents at the scene referred questions to the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., which did not immediately respond to inquiries.

The market specializes in meat that meets Islamic religious requirements.

"That’s our only source of food," said Ayan Mohamed, 32, of Seattle, a regular customer.

State Rep. Kip Tokuda, D-Seattle, came to the scene in his district Thursday. He shook his head in disgust at a letter from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control that was handed to Nur on Wednesday. The letter said the premises were being sealed and the property blocked, but listed no specific address and gave no reason why.

Tokuda urged residents to write to their elected officials.

"I have grave concerns that their civil liberties have been breached," he said.

Jerry Sheehan, legislative director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state, cautioned that the government needs to be careful in such investigations. But he declined to comment further, saying he only had information based on what he had heard in the media.

"Perhaps somewhere way down the line, (bin Laden is) in position to skim 5 percent off of the transfers being made (at Barakat). So that gives the government the authority it needs … but it imposes a lot of hardship on the 95 percent of moneys going to Somalia and other countries," said John Junker, a University of Washington law school professor.

Officials say the assets of 62 businesses and individuals in nine countries are being frozen because of suspected ties to bin Laden’s financial network.

Associated Press

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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