Bronx Martial Arts Instructor Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Support al Qaeda

    NEW YORK, April 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tarik Shah, a martial arts
 instructor from the Bronx, pleaded guilty earlier today to a charge of
 conspiring to provide material support or resources to the al Qaeda
 terrorist organization, Michael J. Garcia, U.S. Attorney for the Southern
 District of New York announced.
     During his guilty plea, Shah admitted that he conspired to aid al Qaeda
 by agreeing to train al Qaeda terrorists in martial arts and hand-to-hand
 combat with weapons. Shah pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge
 Gabriel W. Gorenstein. According to the charging documents filed in
 Manhattan federal court and statements made at Shah's guilty plea:
     On May 20, 2005, Shah met with a person whom he believed to be a
 recruiter for al Qaeda, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.
 During that meeting, Shah pledged "bayat," or allegiance, to Usama bin
 Laden and al Qaeda, and agreed to provide his martial arts expertise to
 train al Qaeda fighters.
     From 2003 through May 2005, Shah engaged in multiple meetings and
 conversations, first with a confidential source (the "CS") and later with
 the FBI undercover agent (the "UC"). In these conversations, the vast
 majority of which were recorded, Shah discussed his desire and intent to
 aid al Qaeda. For example, Shah repeatedly indicated his desire to train
 Muslim "brothers" in the martial arts to help them wage jihad, and also
 regularly discussed his desire to find people who were willing to press the
 fight. Shah also took steps to find locations where jihad training could be
 conducted and weapons could be machined.
     Shah told the UC and the CS of his attempt to enter Afghanistan in
 approximately 1998 and of his intention to attend terrorist training camps
 there. Materials recovered from Shah included the names and telephone
 numbers of other individuals who had gone overseas to attend such training
 camps, including Seifullah Chapman -- a member of the Virginia Jihad
 Network who was convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2004 for
 providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba foreign terrorist
 organization.
     At the meeting on May 20, 2005, in the presence of the UC and under the
 impression that the UC had the authority of al Qaeda, Shah allegedly took
 "bayat" -- pledging an oath of loyalty to al Qaeda, and committing himself
 to the path of Holy War, to the oath of secrecy, and to abide by the
 directives of al Qaeda and its leaders, including Usama bin Laden and Ayman
 al Zawahiri. In his conversation with UC, SHAH stated that he had been
 "preparing this for a long time."
     Shah faces a maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment, a maximum fine
 of $250,000, and a maximum term of supervised release of three years. Shah
 will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska on July 10,
 2007, at 4:30 p.m.
     The investigation was conducted by the New York Joint Terrorism Task
 Force, including the FBI and the New York City Police Department.
     Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer G. Rodgers, Victor L. Hou, and Karl
 Metzner are in charge of the prosecution.
 
 

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice