16 Middle Eastern Men Indicted in United States

By Anne Michaud

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Sixteen men of Middle Eastern origin were indicted on charges of obtaining illegal commercial driver's licenses on Thursday as part of a federal crackdown on hazardous material haulers, U.S. authorities said.

The suspects, named by a federal grand jury, were among 21 Middle Eastern men arrested last week after federal authorities tightened scrutiny of hazardous materials shipments in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack on New York and Washington.

The case is not tied to the attack that left more than 5,700 people dead or missing and feared dead at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon (news - web sites) and in a rural western Pennsylvania.

Twenty men have been indicted in the case so far, including four Iraqis, whom the grand jury named on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say 18 of the 20 unlawfully obtained federal commercial driver's licenses to haul hazardous materials. The other two illegally obtained licenses that had no hazardous materials designation, authorities said.

The licenses all came through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The only suspect not to be indicted is the accused Pittsburgh middleman, 36-year-old Elmeliani Benmoumen, authorities said. His preliminary hearing before a U.S. magistrate, originally set for Friday, has been postponed.

A state employee who sold the licenses to Benmoumen has been fired, but not charged with any crime and has been cooperating with investigators, authorities said.

Each indictment handed down on Thursday involved a single count of aiding and abetting in the unlawful production of a federal commercial driver's license. The charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Fourteen suspects indicted for hazardous materials licenses on Thursday were identified as Ali Alubeidy, 34; Hussain Al-Obaidi, 34; Akeel Al Aboudy, 24; Alawi Al-Baraa, 33; Hatef Al-Atabi, 36; Sabah Al Hachami, 47; Hisham Al-Shiblawy, 23; Fadhil Al-Khaledy, 33; Samir Almazaal, 29; Mohammed Alibrahimi, 32; Wather Al-Atabi, 26; Raad Al-Maleky, 29; Kamel Albred, 33; and Haider Alshomary, 29.

Indictments against two other men -- Kumeit Al-Saraf, 33, and Arkan Alandon, 29 -- involved non-hazmat licenses.

Nearly all of the 21 suspects are free on bond in their respective home states of Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001