A Yemeni-American man with ties to a group of men who trained at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp in Afghanistan has been sentenced to over three years in prison for participating in a cigarette smuggling operation.

Aref Ahmed, of Lackawanna, New York, was sentenced on July 26 in Buffalo for his role in smuggling millions of cartons of untaxed cigarettes.  The cigarettes were bought from a Seneca Indian Nation wholesaler and sold at huge profits in Michigan and in New York.  The operation cost the states millions in lost tax revenue. 

Ahmed, who ran a gas station in Niagara Falls, was convicted in March 2004 of money laundering and trafficking in contraband cigarettes.  More than a dozen co-defendants pleaded guilty in the smuggling case as well.

Federal prosecutors say that Ahmed gave $14,000 to five members of the so-called “Lackawanna Six,” a group of men who admitted to traveling to Afghanistan in the summer of 2001 and training at Al Qaeda’s Al Farooq terrorist training camp (Ahmed has not been charged in the Lackawanna case).  The men are currently in prison after pleading guilty in 2003 to providing support to a terrorist organization. 

Members of the group said they received money from Ahmed, which they used to travel to the camp in Afghanistan, according to federal officials.  Ahmed reportedly tried to get his money back when he discovered that the men left the training camps without completing their training. 

In addition to the prison term, Ahmed was ordered to pay over $270,000 in restitution to Michigan and New York.