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Animal Rights Activists Arrested For Terrorst Acts Against UC Scientists Posted: 20 Feb 2009 05:00 PM PST Federal authorities have arrested four suspected animal rights activists in connection with violent protests in Santa Cruz and Alameda County, police reported Friday. Three of the four were linked to the Riverside Avenue home police raided after the home invasion attack of a UC Santa Cruz researcher a year ago, according to Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend. Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside and Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach were arrested by the FBI and the Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force at an airport in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday when they returned to the U.S. from Costa Rica, police reported. They appeared in federal court in Charlotte on Friday. The two other suspects - Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley and Maryam Khejavi, 20, of Pinole - were arrested by the FBI, the San Francisco Joint Terrorism Task Force and UC Berkeley police Friday afternoon. Khejavi was arrested in Oakland and Buddenberg, the only one of the four not tied to the Riverside Avenue house, was arrested at the Alameda County Courthouse, according to authorities. Santa Cruz Police Chief Howard Skerry said the arrests came “due to the tenacity of investigators,” but declined to speak specifically about the probe, evidence collected or any future arrests. Santa Cruz police were involved in the in vestigation, but the FBI was the lead law enforcement agency handling the case. Still, he said he was pleased with the progress made in the past year. “A lot of cases are very complex,” Skerry said. “We don’t give up on the cases. If it takes years, it takes years.” Pope, Stumpo, Buddenberg and Khejavi will be charged at least in part under the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, police said. The act carries a penalty of up to five years for each violation. It wasn’t immediately clear how many counts the suspected animal activists face. They are expected to appear in U.S. District Court later this month. via Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Afghan National Indicted for Alleged Ties To Terrorists - Los Angeles Posted: 20 Feb 2009 01:32 PM PST Federal officials said this morning they have indicted an Afghan national for lying about his alleged ties to terrorists in a bid to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport. Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, 34, who was arrested without incident this morning at his Tustin residence by members of the joint terrorism task force, was named in a five-count indictment returned Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges Niazi hid associations with “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he completed nationalization papers five years ago. During one visit, the government alleges Niazi visited Dr. Amin al-Haq, the security coordinator for Osama bin Laden. Charges against Niazi include perjury, naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport obtained by fraud and making a false statement to a federal agency. He is scheduled to make a court appearance this afternoon at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana. The indictment alleges that Niazi lied on his naturalization application when he failed to disclose a 2004 trip to Pakistan and made false statements by denying he had any association with a terrorist organization, the indictment states. If indicted on all counts, Niazi faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in federal prison and a $1.25-million fine. Niazi then used the fraudulently obtained passport to travel to Pakistan in 2005, according to the unsealed indictment. When he returned to Los Angeles Airport, the government alleges, Niazi lied to customs officials, telling them he had been visiting family in Qatar when he had instead traveled to Pakistan. UPDATED at 1 p.m. The suspect and his wife have lived for at [...] Source - Read Updates Here This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

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