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Man arrested in terrorism sweep
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Reader note: Notice: punishABLE, not punishED. Never see the inside of a jail and still lose your rights. The defendant sure sounds scary, but so does any gun owner, to some people. There are lots of nonviolent "crimes" that COULD BE punished by a year or more. A dangerous stretch of the law.
Plea in gun case is no contest
Man arrested in terrorism sweep
BY CHRIS KAHN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Apr 24, 2002
LYNCHBURG - A Charlotte County man arrested in connection with a federal terrorism dragnet pleaded no contest to gun charges yesterday in federal court.
Bilal Adulah ben Benu, 28, was accused of lying about a drug conviction in order to buy weapons at a Spout Spring gun store. Authorities charged him with illegally possessing firearms and ammunition and taking them across state lines.
In court, defense lawyer Tony Anderson did not dispute that Benu bought firearms and AK-47 ammunition. But Anderson said that despite Benu's 1992 conviction for possession of crack cocaine in Maryland, he still could legally buy guns because he did not receive a prison term.
Benu received a suspended sentence for the drug offense, Anderson said, so Benu's right to possess firearms was never revoked.
"You cannot lose what was never taken," Anderson said after the hearing.
Prosecutor Tom Bondurant disagreed. He said federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by a sentence exceeding one year from buying or possessing firearms.
In addition, Bondurant said, Benu illegally wrote on a gun application that he had no prior convictions.
"So, he still lied," Bondurant said after the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon said he will consider Anderson's arguments during the next few months. No new court date was set. Benu had been scheduled for a jury trial that was to begin yesterday.
For several years, authorities have been monitoring the remote trailer community near Red House where Benu lived. Authorities said the fenced-in compound has served as a hide-out for members of a violent Muslim sect called al-Fuqra.
The group is not suspected of taking part in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but al-Fuqra operatives are believed to have been involved in dozens of firebombings and murders throughout the United States and Canada.
The organization's goal, according to a 1998 State Department report, is to "purify" Islam, even if that means using violence.
Bondurant said Benu considers himself a "holy warrior" and participated in paramilitary training camps sponsored by al-Fuqra in New York.
Two of Benu's neighbors, Vincente Pierre and Traci Upshur, received prison sentences April 5 after being convicted of similar gun charges. http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/more/MGBZM0HJE0D.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Plea in gun case is no contest
Man arrested in terrorism sweep
BY CHRIS KAHN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Apr 24, 2002
LYNCHBURG - A Charlotte County man arrested in connection with a federal terrorism dragnet pleaded no contest to gun charges yesterday in federal court.
Bilal Adulah ben Benu, 28, was accused of lying about a drug conviction in order to buy weapons at a Spout Spring gun store. Authorities charged him with illegally possessing firearms and ammunition and taking them across state lines.
In court, defense lawyer Tony Anderson did not dispute that Benu bought firearms and AK-47 ammunition. But Anderson said that despite Benu's 1992 conviction for possession of crack cocaine in Maryland, he still could legally buy guns because he did not receive a prison term.
Benu received a suspended sentence for the drug offense, Anderson said, so Benu's right to possess firearms was never revoked.
"You cannot lose what was never taken," Anderson said after the hearing.
Prosecutor Tom Bondurant disagreed. He said federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by a sentence exceeding one year from buying or possessing firearms.
In addition, Bondurant said, Benu illegally wrote on a gun application that he had no prior convictions.
"So, he still lied," Bondurant said after the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon said he will consider Anderson's arguments during the next few months. No new court date was set. Benu had been scheduled for a jury trial that was to begin yesterday.
For several years, authorities have been monitoring the remote trailer community near Red House where Benu lived. Authorities said the fenced-in compound has served as a hide-out for members of a violent Muslim sect called al-Fuqra.
The group is not suspected of taking part in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but al-Fuqra operatives are believed to have been involved in dozens of firebombings and murders throughout the United States and Canada.
The organization's goal, according to a 1998 State Department report, is to "purify" Islam, even if that means using violence.
Bondurant said Benu considers himself a "holy warrior" and participated in paramilitary training camps sponsored by al-Fuqra in New York.
Two of Benu's neighbors, Vincente Pierre and Traci Upshur, received prison sentences April 5 after being convicted of similar gun charges. http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/more/MGBZM0HJE0D.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878