Sarasota Herald Trib Never Reported ISSB Imam Muneer Arafat 2002 FBI Arrest & Al-Qaeda Links He Was Front Page News St Louis Post-Dispatch, So I Will

Sarasota Herald Tribune newspaper never reported ISSB Mosque Imam Muneer Arafat November 2002 FBI arrest in Sarasota Fl and/or his direct Al-Qaeda links and yet Muneer Arafat and his roommate Ziyad Khaleel were front page news at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, so I will. In early 2002, the FBI launched a secret, localized investigation in Sarasota, FL, into the wealthy Saudi Abdulaziz al-Hijji family residing in the upscale Prestancia development. The family hurriedly fled the United States just days before the 9/11 attacks, leaving behind vehicles, belongings, and a refrigerator full of food. 

"U.S. looks for local terror ties, sources say."January 20, 2003 ST. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper by Karen Branch-Brioso and Peter Shinkle. Sarasota Imam Muneer Arafat questioned by Federal Grand Jury, Herald Tribune never reported this story. January 20, 2003 ST. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper by Karen Branch-Brioso. Published on January 20, 2003, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Karen Branch-Brioso and Peter Shinkle the article details federal efforts to investigate local, domestic, and religious networks for links to foreign terror groups following the passage of the PATRIOT Act. The report highlighted increased surveillance of community organizations and immigrant communities in the post-9/11 "War on Terror" era. PENTTBOM was the FBI's investigation into the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001 (9/11). The full article can be accessed through the St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives.

“Dead Or Alive, Fund-Raiser Draws Interest Of Federal Authorities; Kuwaiti Native Ziyad Khaleel Also Bought Satellite Phone That Ended Up In Bin Laden's Hands,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 20, 2003. In the Jan 2003 the when the article was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sarasota Imam Muneer Arafat and his roommate Ziyad Khaleel were (Ziyad Khaleel was missing) being questioned about terror ties before a Federal Grand Jury in St Louis, both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Herald Tribune in Sarasota were long time members of the AP wire which provides real-time reporting to Newspapers. St. Louis Post-Dispatch maintains a long history of receiving and publishing national and international news through the Associated Press (AP) wire. The AP wire provided real-time reporting to the Post-Dispatch, which also produced its own regional journalism and investigative reports distributed to other papers via the AP. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune is part of the USA TODAY Network, owned by Gannett. Because Gannett papers publish national and international stories using the Associated Press wire, you can find AP-syndicated articles appearing daily in the print edition and on the Herald-Tribune website. But the Herald Tribune never posted the damning report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Sarasota Imam Muneer Arafat's direct links to Al-Qaeda agents, WTF?

As per U.S. Immigration Services: RE Saudi Arabia, London-based militant Islamic group, the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR) whose leader, Professor Muhammad Al-Massari, publicly endorsed the political aims of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Information on the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR) consisted of one Saad al-Faqih and one Mohammad al-Massaari aggressively anti-Saudi Arabia. A January 2003 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH article links the CDLR to a satellite phone used by Osama bin Laden to orchestrate the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. According to the article, the phone allegedly was purchased in 1996 by Kuwaiti native Ziyad Khaleel living in the U.S. with roommate Imam Muneer Arafat who then allegedly sold the phone to the CDLR in London. The article does not indicate how the phone may have passed from the CDLR to Osama bin Laden (Branch-Brioso, Shinkle 20 Jan 2003). Ziyad Khaleel, a Kuwaiti native and U.S.-based al-Qaeda agent, purchased the satellite phone in 1996 that was used by Osama bin Laden to facilitate the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, drawing scrutiny from federal authorities.

The Sarasota Connection & Discovery to terrorism prior to the 9/11 terror attacks. The Home: The Escondito Circle home was owned by Esam Ghazzawi, an adviser to a senior Saudi prince. It was occupied by his daughter, Anoud Esam al-Hijji, and her husband, Abdulaziz al-Hijji , they were married at the ISSB Mosque in 1996. Anoud wore a 10-carat heart-shaped diamond ring and westernized clothes, she was religious and attended the local ISSB Mosque weekly on Friday. She and her husband, Abdulazzi, owned three cars: a Range Rover, a Lexus and a brand-new PT Cruiser. Hijacker Links: Law enforcement and investigative reports revealed that gate logbooks, telephone records, and license plate photographs showed 9/11 hijack pilots—including Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi—had visited the home, also identified as having visited: Saudi-born terrorist Adnan Shukrijumah. Muneer Arafat (Al-Queda linked) was the Imam at the local Sarasota Mosque that Anoud Esam al-Hijji, and her husband, Abdulaziz al-Hijji attended. Muneer Arafat was also a frequent guest at the Escondito Circle Sarasota Fl home. The residence was located about 10 miles from the Venice FL flight school where the 9/11 hijack pilots trained. 

9/11 hijack pilots boss Mohamed Atta purchased a 1989 red Pontiac Grand Prix LE car in Venice Fl on/or about July 7, 2000, the car had Fl tag D79DDV with VIN number 1G2WK14W7KF262689. Mohamed Atta drove this car to Anoud Esam al-Hijji and her husband Abdulaziz al-Hijji's house in Prestancia Sarasota Fl multiple times.

---------------------------------VEHICLE DATA---------------------------------

VIN:     1G2WK14W7KF262689                     
Make:    PONT                                     Odom Miles:  62696        
Year:    1989                                      Odom Date:  07/07/2000   
Body:    2D                                      Odom Status:  ACTUAL       
Color:   RED                                    Vehicle Type:  AUTO         
Weight:  3101                                    Vehicle Use:  PERSONAL     

Regis. Status:     C                              Decal Type:  VEHICLE DECAL
License Plate:     D79DDV                           Decal No:  05689293     
Plate Issue Date:  07/17/2000                     Decal Year:  2001         
Plate Code:        RGR                      Decal Issue Date:  07/17/2000   
ARF Credit:        2.00                     Decal Expir Date:  09/01/2001   
--------------------------VEHICLE OWNER INFORMATION---------------------------

MOHAMED  ATTA                                      SSN/FedID:                  

The red 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix with the Florida tag D79DDV was a vehicle associated with 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. Federal investigators and local Florida authorities circulated a missing persons and vehicle alert for the car after it was reportedly spotted in downtown Orlando in September 2001. Details of the vehicle search are heavily documented in the Orlando Sentinel archives. For the official timeline of events and details regarding the hijackers' movements and assets, consult the FBI 9/11 Investigation case files.

NBC NEWS; A Saudi man, Abdulazziz al-Hijji, who triggered an FBI investigation after he and his family left their Sarasota, Fla., area home and moved overseas two weeks before 9/11 considered Osama bin Laden a “hero” and may have known some of the hijackers, an informant Wissam Hammoud told the FBI in 2004. Hammoud, who said he met al-Hijji through relatives, said the two men worked out together at Shapes Fitness in Sarasota and played soccer at the local Islamic Society (ISSB) Mosque, Al-Qaeda linked Muneer Arafat was the Imam at  the Mosque. The informant also told authorities that the Saudi, Abdulazziz al-Hijji, once introduced him to Adnan El Shukrijumah -- another former Florida resident and top al-Qaida operative. The FBI and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office interviewed the informant, Wissam Taysir Hammoud, at the Hillsborough County Jail on April 7, 2004. Hammoud, 46, who once owned a cell phone business in Sarasota, was serving 21 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2005 in federal court in Tampa to weapons violations and attempting to kill a federal agent and a witness in an earlier case against him. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons classifies him as an “International Terrorist Associate,” court records show. FBI-led probe that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington -- one that pointed to a possible Saudi support operation for the hijackers in Sarasota Florida. 

The 2002 FBI Memo: An April 2002 FBI memo surfaced, stating that one investigator had found "many connections" between the al-Hijji family and the 9/11 hijack pilots. Controversy and Congressional Fallout. Inquiry Omission: The FBI never disclosed the existence of this Sarasota investigation to the 9/11 Commission or congressional intelligence committees, leading to accusations of a FBI cover-up. Essam Ghazzawi and his son-in-law Abdulaziz al-Hijji aka "Azziz", who lived in Ghazzawi's Prestancia home in Sarasota, had been on the FBI terrorist watch list and a U.S. agency (ICE) involved in tracking terrorist funds and funding was interested in both Essam Ghazzawi and his son-in-law Abdulaziz al-Hijji aka "Azziz" even before the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks. 

The Sarasota Fl area was the base of operations for 9/11 Al-Qaeda Hijack Pilots Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah, they had a support network entrenched in the area when Al-Qaeda linked Imam Muneer Arafat shows up at the Sarasota-Bradenton Islamic Center (ISSB Mosque) in March 2000 just 3 months before the Hijackers show up in the Sarasota area in July of 2000. Muneer Arafat purchased a Isuzu Tooper SUV in Jan 2000 in East St Louis IL to drive to Sarasota Fl and for him to use and get around on a daily basis, a vehicle is a necessity in Sarasota Florida. Al-Qaeda linked Imam Muneer Arafat was driving a blue 2000 Isuzu SUV with IL license plate 3678625 in the Sarasota area from at least March 2000 through all of 2003 without registering the vehicle in Sarasota Florida or getting a Florida drivers license.

In St. Louis, 1996 to 2000, Muneer Arafat became a well-known lecturer at different Masjids and built up quite a following. Muneer Arafat  gave lectures at local mosques that almost exclusively focused on Jihad week in and week out and this got him into trouble with Sheikh Muhammad Nur of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis who at one point banned Muneer Kazem Arafat from giving lectures at the Gateway Masjid 3843 W Pine Mall Blvd, St. Louis, MO. Jihad preaching Imam Muneer Arafat banned in St Louis but welcomed in Sarasota in March 2000? 

"U.S. looks for local terror ties, sources say."January 20, 2003 ST. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper by Karen Branch-Brioso and Peter Shinkle, the Jan 20, 2003 article about Sarasota Imam Muneer Arafat in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch just after he was arrested on Immigration charges by FBI & ICE agents in November 2002. Sarasota Imam Muneer Arafat had been the long time friend and roommate of Al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Sadaqa aka Ziyad Khaleel. Muneer Arafat was arrested in Sarasota Fl on November 22nd 2002 and sent to face a Grand Jury investigation into his ties to terrorism in St Louis. Muneer Arafat was not in Brooklyn or the NYC area in November 2002 he was in the Jennings City Jail 5445 Jennings Station Rd, St. Louis, MO from November 22nd till December 18th, 2002 when he testified before the St Louis Federal Grand Jury concerning his ties to terrorism.

VIDEO ABC7 NEWS SUNCOAST WWSB: Sarasota Private Investigator Bill Warner Exposes Muslim Cleric Muneer Arafat Links to Terrorism. Sarasota Mosque Imam Muneer Arafat came to Sarasota in March of 2000 his prior roommate in St Louis and in Columbia MO was al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Sadaqua aka Ziyad Khaleel who purchased a satellite phone in the USA and had it shipped to Africa so that it could be used by Osama bin-Laden in the 1998 US Embassy Bombings in Africa. In July of 2000 Mohamed Atta and his 9/11 hijack pals followed Muneer Arafat to Sarasota FL, while Ziyad Sadaqua aka Ziyad Khaleel went to Orlando Fl small world, eh.

According to a FDLE report of December 8, 2003 given by Sarasota FBI agent Thomas Baugher, “The source (CI) also spoke to Muneer ARAFAT as the Imam of the local Sarasota Mosque and that Muneer ARAFAT was a member of the Kuwaiti Islamic Brotherhood (in Kuwait same time as 9/11 head of operations KSM). Muneer Arafat follows a radical belief and teachings of Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar AL-BAZ (Abd al-Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz), and wishes harm to the United States”. Sarasota Imam Muneer Kazem Arafat, DOB 5/10/1963, bragged about working for the FBI and made public his activity in Sarasota from December 19th 2002 to end of 2003 when he was called as a witness in the Sami Al-Arain terrorism trial in Tampa in June 2005. Imam Muneer Arafat told the court he was working as a confidential informant (wearing a wire) for the FBI and they paid him $35,000 for his efforts in a unspecified case in Sarasota Fl.


Sarasota Private Investigator Bill Warner, True Crime Stories, Bill Warner Investigations Sarasota Fl.