Did Raids Uncover Terrorist Money?

MINNEAPOLIS - The FBI raided three money transfer businesses in south Minneapolis on Wednesday, executing search warrants for transfers to several African nations.

The search warrants covered records for money transfers to Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and other African nations. The warrants were served at Mustaqbal Express, Quran Express and Aaran Financial.

For many Somalis, the money wiring businesses are a lifeline back home. Wednesday, Alya tried sending $50 to her sick mother living in Kenya.

"I take care of my mom, and unfortunately I can't send money to my mother," Alya said.

Mustaqbal Express' Minneapolis office serves as a central collection point for money from other locations around the country, including Seattle, St. Louis and Denver and Columbus, Ohio, Omar said. The company's Web site says it also has offices in Arizona, Montana, Tennessee and Georgia.

Omar said the office handles about $1 million to $1.5 million per month, and ships the money overseas -- mostly to Somalia. Local immigrants also use the Minneapolis office to send money back home.

A copy of the sealed search warrant says the FBI is investigating money laundering -- specifically, money transfers between Minnesota and Somalia, and a half-dozen other African nations as well as the United Arab Emirates.

The FBI raided the transfer businesses in search of money transfers after January 2007 --about the same time several young Somali men from Minneapolis went missing , suspected of going back to Somali to fight in a holy war.

The FBI has long been suspicious the money wiring services could be used to launder money for Somali pirates , or to finance Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda linked terror now controlling most of Somalia.

"They tell us there is connection or no relation to the issue of men missing in Somalia," Mustaqbal Express general manager Abdirahman Omar said

Mustaqbal Express is one of more than a dozen money wiring businesses in the Village Market -- an indoor mall catering to the Somali community. While two of the businesses in the mall were raided Wednesday, many Somalis see them as essential to get money back home.

"There's no government in Somalia, no bank," Omar Jamal, of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said. "This is our bank."

Many Somalis are left to wonder if the FBI is on an elaborate fishing expedition or whether they've finally uncovered the money trail to terrorism, piracy or something else.

Omar said the FBI agents were polite, and just doing their jobs. Still, he was angered and said the raid gave his business a bad image.

"We're not doing anything wrong," he said. "We cooperated. We are 100 percent confident there's nothing wrong."

Mustaqbal Express shut down during the raid, but was back in business by late Wednesday afternoon.