FBI, INS Raid Jewelry Stores

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators are conducting raids nationwide on jewelry stores owned mostly by Pakistanis, hoping to break up fronts for terrorist groups or their financial backers, U.S. officials said.

The raids have taken place over the past two weeks in several cities, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and New York. About 75 jewelry stores have been raided, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Tariq Hussain, 27, a recently discharged U.S. Army mechanic whose Intrigue Jewelers kiosk in suburban Pittsburgh was searched on June 26, said FBI agents questioned him for several hours and wanted to know if he had connections to the al-Qaida terrorist network or its leader, Osama bin Laden.

"They took everything, my paperwork, bills, my computer, my checks," he said. "I told them, 'I don't have any links to anything like that."'

The raids were not prompted by evidence of wrongdoing by all the individuals who were questioned, another U.S. official said. More than a dozen people are still in detention following the raids.

Looking for financial links to al-Qaeda

The government had acknowledged that some raids were conducted in late June, but had refused to discuss whether they were linked to efforts to fight terrorism. Some officials referred to the raids as "immigration sweeps."

The officials said the jewelry shop owners have been asked about their accounting practices and whether they send money to any foreign organizations on a regular basis. They are also asked whether they support al-Qaida or know anyone who does, the officials said.

It is unclear how businesses are being targeted for the raids. The U.S. official said the authority to conduct the raids was under seal and declined to cite the statute that makes the raids legal.

Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said immediately after the raids that federal agencies were "looking at illegal immigrants working at kiosks," but he refused to elaborate.

Immigration and Naturalization Service officials would not comment on the raids, except to acknowledge that an ongoing operation was underway.

The largest raids took place between June 28 and July 2. Agents swept jewelry stores in Pennsylvania, Florida, California, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina. Since then, two smaller raids have taken place in Texas, California and Massachusetts, officials said. Most of the raids involved the Intrigue Jewelers chain of stores.

Outrage in Muslim communities

Intrigue Jewelers franchises are licensed from a Florida company, Gold Concept Inc., which lists Orlando businessman Arif Rajan as its chief officer in state records.

Rajan's attorney, Phillip Calandrino, said the company has no terrorist ties.

He said Rajan, a U.S. citizen since 1991, has been cooperating with the FBI for several months and has voluntarily turned over his company's records to investigators.

"He sat down (with FBI agents) for several hours and answered all their questions," Calandrino said. "And the general impression he got was that, by the end of the day, they were satisfied there was no wrongdoing."

The company first came into contact with FBI investigators in September, when a Pakistani employee of an Intrigue Jewelers in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, came under suspicion for having spent hours photographing the World Trade Center days before it was destroyed. The employee remains jailed as investigators look into why he took the photographs.

The raids have sparked outrage among some members of Muslim communities.

"These people are being confronted and in some cases terrorized based on no evidence," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "And even when the FBI says there is evidence, it is never anything anyone else is allowed to see."

In a court filing, the Justice Department has defended its right to detain people without revealing information about their identity or where they are held during terrorism investigations. The government says 74 people have been detained as part of the September 11 investigation and are being held on immigration-related charges.