Albany Mosque Leaders Sentenced in Terror Sting Posted: March 13, 2007

Two leaders of an Albany, New York, mosque were sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization.

Mohammed Hossain, 52, founder of the Masjid As-Salam Mosque, and Yassin Aref, 36, the Mosque’s former spiritual leader, were convicted last year for their role in a money laundering scheme involving an FBI informant who posed as an illegal arms dealer.

Hossain agreed to lauder $50,000 from the informant, who told him that he sold a shoulder-fired missile that would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City, authorities said.

The informant asked Hossain to take the money and return it through a series of $2,000 checks, according to court records. Authorities said Hossain agreed to issue checks from his businesses and planned to keep $5,000 for laundering the money.  Hossain, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Bangladesh, was convicted on all 27 charges.

Aref, who acted as a witness to the transactions, was found guilty of 10 of the 30 counts against him  In addition to the charges related to money laundering, these counts included lying to FBI agents about having known a terrorist leader, Mullah Krekar, when he worked for a Kurdish political organization in Syria.

In 2003, U.S. troops discovered Aref's name, telephone number and address in a book left behind in a vacated terrorist training camp, a U.S. official said. The book also revealed that Ansar al-Islam, the group running the camp, had given Aref a title: “the commander.”