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Tarik Ibn Osman Shah, 42
A Bronx man who wanted to set up an al Qaeda training camp in the United States bragged that he could smile at someone one minute and slit the person's throat the next, court papers reveal.
Tarik Ibn Osman Shah, 42, made the chilling boast in a meeting with an undercover FBI agent April 1, 2004, near Orlando, Fla., according to a criminal complaint unsealed yesterday.
Shah saw a girl nearby looking at him and he smiled back.
The Bronx man, the son of a Malcolm X lieutenant, then turned to the agent and said, "I could be joking and smiling and then cutting their throats in the next second," the complaint said.
Shah, a professional jazz bassist, brought along his instrument "so as not to bring attention to himself." Being a musician was a great cover, he said.
A bassist named Tarik Shah played on a tribute to Billy Holiday recorded by jazz singer Abbey Lincoln, but it could not be confirmed if he is the same person. Shah and a friend, Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 50, a former Harlem doctor who now lives in Boca Raton, Fla., were arrested Saturday and charged with plotting to train and provide medical aid to al Qaeda members.
They face up to 15 years behind bars if convicted.
The complaint said the plot was hatched Dec. 16, 2003, when Shah met with an informant — who offered to work for the FBI after being convicted of robbery in 1990.
Shah told the informant he wanted to find a place where he could train Muslim "brothers" in hand-to-hand combat, bragging he was an expert in teaching martial arts that are "deadly and dangerous."
The informant said he had access to a Long Island warehouse Shah might want.
Shah replied that he might have to hang tires in the warehouse because "I teach the brothers how to use swords and machetes."
He also discussed opening a machine shop "so you wouldn't have to depend on people to make your gun barrels."
Shah visited the warehouse Dec. 31, 2003, but apparently decided it was too far from The Bronx.
The informant said he knew an al Qaeda recruiter — actually the undercover agent — and a meeting was arranged in upstate Plattsburgh on March 4, 2004.
Shah said he had a close friend, Sabir, an emergency-room doctor "who has the spirit to wanna be right in it." He suggested the recruiter sell them to al Qaeda as "a package."
Shah and the undercover agent met the following April 1 in Orlando, and the agent asked Shah to make a demonstration videotape and prepare a syllabus on hand-to-hand fighting.
"We are one-hundred percent on the same page," Shah replied. "Since I was pretty young, [jihad] has always been one of my dreams."
He said he had trained "a lot of my brothers" who had gone overseas to training camps in Afghanistan and Yemen.
He also said he would like to learn about "chemical stuff," explosives and firearms at overseas camps, but couldn't leave the United States because he's a deadbeat dad.
The next meeting happened May 20. Shah and Sabir swore loyalty oaths to Osama bin Laden.
Shah claimed he and Sabir had been kicked out of a Bronx mosque for trying to teach urban warfare to members.
He also claimed that the U.S. government was training its agents to pose as Islamic fighters, adding that "the Jews were already doing this."
Shah's silver Chevrolet Impala was parked outside his Bronx apartment yesterday. In the back seat was a reminder to buy a DVD of Ward Churchill, the Colorado professor who called 9/11 victims "little Eichmanns."
Neighbors recalled Sabir, who had a Harlem office before moving to Long Island and then Florida, as a caring man who tried to help people in the neighborhood.
Source: http://www.nypost.com/ | |
