Heavy security surrounds trial linking cigarette scheme to terrorist group

Posted 3:00PM on Monday 20th May 2002 ( 23 years ago )

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The trial of two men accused of funneling cigarette-smuggling profits to the terrorist group Hezbollah started Monday under tight security. The U.S. District Court building was ringed by concrete barriers, and two lanes of an adjacent street were closed. Defendants Mohamad Hammoud and Chawki Hammoud were brought to court in an armored truck. The brothers' trial was expected to take several weeks, with jury selection beginning Monday. "It's going to be extremely hard to get an impartial jury," particularly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said Deke Falls, Mohamad Hammoud's lawyer. "Our judicial system is the best in the world, but this is going to be a real test of that system." Mohamad Hammoud, 28, was charged under a 1996 anti-terrorism law with providing material support to Hezbollah. Conviction could bring up to 10 years in prison. He is also charged with money laundering, cigarette smuggling, immigration fraud and racketeering, and could face up to life in prison if convicted. Chawki Hammoud, 37, faces charges of immigration fraud, cigarette smuggling, money laundering and racketeering. Authorities have not charged the Hammouds or their associates with committing or planning acts of terrorism or violence. They say the smuggling operation, which allegedly involved reselling North Carolina cigarettes in Michigan without paying Michigan's higher cigarette taxes, was aimed at generating cash for Hezbollah, labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department. The case began in July 2000, when federal authorities in Charlotte charged 18 people, most from Lebanon, in an investigation into cigarette smuggling, money laundering and immigration violations. The case took a higher profile nine months later, when eight Lebanese nationals and one woman from the group were accused of involvement in a Charlotte cell of Hezbollah. Seven have since pleaded guilty, leaving only the brothers to stand trial. Said Mohamad Harb, 31, who pleaded guilty in February, initially had been the only defendant accused of providing material support to Hezbollah. He now is expected to be the government's star witness against Mohamad Hammoud, the alleged ringleader of the Charlotte cell. Harb is expected to testify that in September 1999, he transported $3,500 from Mohamad Hammoud to Sheik Abbas Harake, a Hezbollah military commander in Lebanon. Hezbollah, which means "party of God" in Arabic, led a guerrilla war against Israel's 18-year occupation of a border zone in southern Lebanon. The occupation ended with an Israeli withdrawal in May 2000.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/202168