If you are a Counterjihad reader, you are fully aware of the
existence Muslims of America (MOA) on
American soil. These guys are Islamic terrorists with their strings being pulled
by its leader Sheikh Mubarak
Ali Gilani in Pakistan.
The Clarion Project has
discovered that the MOA is under an official government investigation. Here’s what CP
knows so far.
JRH 11/26/17
******************
Gov’t Confirms US Jihadi Cult Under Investigation
By RYAN MAURO
November 26, 2017
A U.S. government agency confirmed in a letter to the Clarion
Project that an investigation into a terror-linked Islamist cult named
Muslims of America (MOA) is ongoing. The group is known for its “Islamic
villages” in North America, with its “Islamberg” headquarters receiving the
most attention.
The October 19 letter from the
Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
states that 10 documents from a previous investigation into MOA must be
withheld because “the investigation related to the documents that were referred
is still open.”
The Justice Department says that releasing the information
could interfere with law enforcement proceedings as they concern an “ongoing
investigation.”
Muslims of America (MOA) used to be known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra
when it carried out a series of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from the 1970s
to the early 1990s. The group is led by a radical cleric in Pakistan and claims
to have 22 “villages” in the U.S., some of which are known to have been used
for basic military-type training.
FBI documents from 2003 released by Clarion Project earlier
this year state that MOA is was linked to al-Qaeda in Pakistan at
that time.
The Justice Department letter is referring to a Naval
Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) terrorism and counter-intelligence probe
into MOA activity possibly impacting the U.S. military. The Clarion
Project has received a series of documents from
that investigation dated between 2002 and 2004, and the files confirm that
concern about MOA’s extremism is warranted.
The documents refer to “Islamberg” in Hancock, New York; “Ahmadabad West” and “Ahmadabad East” in Red House and
Meherrin, Virginia; “Islamville” in York
County, South Carolina; “Hassanville” in Ontario, Canada; the “village” in Dover, Tennessee and one in the state of Washington. Travel to and from Pakistan,
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago is also of concern.
The NCIS explicitly states that MOA is the “U.S. name” for
Jamaat ul-Fuqra and that there are reports of gunfire, including automatic
gunfire, at some of the “compounds.”
The documents state that “all locations have individuals who
are involved with criminal scams to raise money for MOA/JAF,” including
worker’s compensation fraud, insurance fraud, credit card fraud, illegal straw
purchases of weapons and conversions of semi-automatic firearms into
fully-automatic guns. MOA members send the funds to “Islamberg” in New York
and/or Lahore, Pakistan for Sheikh Gilani.
“MOA members from all compounds
also travel to Pakistan for both religious education as well as military-style
training and operational experience fighting in the Kashmir region of Pakistan,”
the document states.
Major Activity in Virginia
The declassified NCIS documents show extensive MOA activity
in the state of Virginia outside of the two known compounds.
The Virginia MOA compounds are suspiciously secretive. The
documents recount how the compound in Red House behaved after a hurricane in
2004. They refused to grant access to the property for the local fire
department and Virginia Power to fix power lines for several days. There are
similar stories from other compounds.
At the time of the documents’ writing in 2002-2004, life in
MOA’s Virginia compounds was known to be very strict. Two families left the Red
House compound after televisions were banned. Multiple MOA-affiliated sources
have mentioned this ban to this author as well as Martin Mawyer.
The Virginia State Police provided information showing that
“the group has expressed an interest in harming a VSP [Virginia State Police]
trooper if they pose a threat to MOA members in central Virginia.”
Members living at the Red House compound were instructed to
buy firearms and ordinance every single month “to enhance the defenses of their
compound.”
The activity at the compound includes paramilitary training,
presumably like that seen in videotaped training of
women at “Islamberg” around 2002. The investigatory files
state:
“Reporting to BATF has noted
that MOA, Red House, VA, conducts squad-type training in surrounding
woods/swamps and that they have made uncorroborated statements that they would
fight any law enforcement encroachment on their compounds by use of defensive
force.”
Suspected MOA members are reported to travel to the area and
cash counterfeited payroll business checks. They then disappear. Members also
operate convenience stores in the towns outside of the compounds and were
looking to buy more land at the time.
Infiltration of Local Police
According to the NCIS documents, the person in
charge of the Red House compound’s security was a local Orange City Police
Department officer.
Seized MOA documents show a concerted effort to infiltrate
law enforcement and establish security companies as fronts.
Infiltration of U.S. Military Bases
“Many” MOA members are alleged to have U.S. military
backgrounds, the documents warn.
The investigators are especially concerned with MOA
infiltration of Naval Air Station LeMoore and Fort Irwin in California by at
least two “long-time members of the terrorism-tied Jamaat ul-Fuqra/Muslims of
America” group.
The files refer to suspected MOA members working as a
housing contract officer at LeMoore and as a contract administrator with the
acquisitions command at Fort Irwin. Concern is also raised about a MOA-owned
cab company that may have access to U.S. bases and services performed by a MOA
member who is a contractor for Avaya Communications.
At the time the files were authored, at least two “long-time
members of the terrorism-tied Jamaat ul-Fuqra/Muslims of America” group were
known to have worked as a housing contract officer at LeMoore and as a contract
administrator with the acquisitions command at Fort Irwin.
The two MOA members were from the group’s 400-acre “Baladullah” compound in Fresno County,
California that was abandoned after its leaders were indicted
for defrauding the state government of $1.3 million in a massive charter school
scam.
The money is believed to have been funneled to MOA’s leaders
in Pakistan. The compound was “alleged to have support terrorism,” NCIS writes.
The NCIS was concerned that the MOA members were using their
positions to earn “kickbacks” to fund their organization and its leaders in
Pakistan.
Conclusion
Declassified documents since the NCIS papers show that the
concern about MOA is ongoing. For example, when the Clarion Project exposed a MOA enclave in Texas in
2014, the report included FBI documents from 2003-2007 with frightening
warnings about the threat posed by MOA’s extremism, terrorist history and
international infrastructure.
A retired federal source confirmed to Clarion Project in
April that he was given urgent national security briefings about MOA after 2009
with an emphasis on the group’s acquirement of weapons and tactical
capabilities, including training of women and children.
Government documents are only released after they have aged.
Those who contend that MOA poses no threat point to a gap in time between an
incriminating investigatory file and the time of publication. However, the U.S.
government’s private assessments of MOA since the 70’s have been consistent.
The most up-to-date evidence from declassified files show that MOA is not the
“moderate” group it claims to be.
MOA members were subjected to a spate of arrests in New York state this
year, as reported by this author and Martin Mawyer based in part on their
confidential informants inside the group. One reported MOA associate, Ramadan
Abdullah, was apprehended with a weapons stockpile.
MOA may also be feeling heat because of its long relationship and public support for
Hizbul Mujahideen, a terrorist group in Pakistan and Kashmir. The
U.S. State Department designated Hizbul Mujahideen as
a Foreign Terrorist Organization on August 16, prohibiting any material
assistance to the group.
For more information about this jihadi cult, visit the
Clarion Project’s Fuqra Files website,
which is the most comprehensive database for information about MOA/Fuqra
available.
RELATED STORIES
_______________
Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org's Shillman Fellow and national security
analyst and an adjunct professor of counter-terrorism. He is frequently
interviewed on top-tier television and radio.
The Clarion Project (formerly Clarion Fund) is a 501(c)3
non-profit organization dedicated to educating both policy makers and the
public about the growing phenomenon of Islamic extremism. The Clarion Project
is committed to working towards safeguarding human rights for all peoples.
About Clarion Project
Clarion Project is a non-profit organization that educates the
public about the dangers of radical Islam.
Clarion’s award-winning films, seen by more than 85-million people,
expose how radical Islamists use terrorism, murder, subjugation of women,
indoctrination of children, religious persecution, genocide of minorities,
widespread human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and cultural jihad — to threaten the
West.
The ClarionProject.org web site delivers news, expert analysis,
videos, and unique perspectives about radical Islam, while giving a platform to
moderate Muslims and human rights activists to speak out against extremism.
