Muslim-owned convenience stores have been busted in a stunning, EBT-for-terrorism scheme that shows that Muslim immigrants are exploiting the U.S. welfare system to fund jihad.
From AL:
A couple of steaks shoplifted at a Gardendale Walmart three months ago led to the biggest food stamp fraud investigation in Alabama history, and launched 11 simultaneous raids this morning at convenience stores countywide.
Led by the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office, teams of law enforcement officers met at 5 a.m. for a briefing and then fanned out across the county beginning at 6:50 a.m. The officers and agents were armed with 242 arrest warrants and plans to arrest 17 suspects.
All 17 suspects were in custody by mid-morning, and investigators already today have filed for forfeiture and condemnation of those 11 stores, which totals more than $1 million in assets.
This is huge for us, said Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls.
The massive probe, dubbed Operation T-bone, targeted those they say have been cheating the food stamp system to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and sending the profits via wire transfer to Yemen, some of which is suspected to have funded Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist activity.
At the heart of the operation are Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, a government-issued debit card that replaced food stamps. There are more than 900,000 people who get government assistance through the EBT card in Alabama each year, and they are allowed to use the cards for food, non-alcoholic beverages, and other basic needs, mostly through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The investigation began in February when Gardendale police arrested a man for shoplifting steaks and some other items at Walmart in that city. When they interviewed the suspect, he said he was boosting the items to give to two convenience stores, and he named the stores, authorities said.
7 of the 9 perps shown above are Muslim immigrants. All 11 stores shut down by authorities are Muslim-owned.
As we reported in 2013, a prominent Muslim cleric called on Muslim immigrants in Western nations to purposely collect government welfare as a so-called Jihad Seekers Allowance.
Muslims in places like Dearborn, Michigan have even been able to claim up to 4 wives as dependents while on welfare.
Is Muslim involvement in the huge food stamp infrastructure a new form of jihad? Do these arrests merely scratch the surface of a massive, international terror-funding scheme?
