A Sleeper Cell in Boston

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The Boston cabbie connection: FBI probes ‘sleeper cell’ possibility.

The Boston office of the FBI is investigating whether a former local cabdriver indicted Friday on charges of lying about ties to a suspected terrorist may have been part of a “sleeper cell” in the Boston area supporting Al Qaeda terrorist activities and whether he may have connections to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in Washington and New York.

Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Boston office, confirmed that the investigation is taking place, saying, “During terrorism investigations we will always look for connections to all known or suspected terrorists or the events of 9/11.”

Although FBI officials in Boston have in the past downplayed the possibility that a sleeper cell was operating in the area, the indictment of Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 41, in Minnesota on Friday charging him with lying to the FBI about his ties to a suspected terrorist and shipping communications equipment to Pakistan provides further leads that will be pursued, Marcinkiewicz said.

The top FBI terrorism specialist in Boston said last year that the agency had no concrete evidence of the existence of a sleeper cell in Boston.

“There’s no indication at all that the 9/11 hijackers had any Al Qaeda cell in Boston to support that operation,” Tom Powers, an assistant special-agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said at the time. “There’s no evidence of any secret cell in Boston, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have small groups of individuals that we’re concerned about.”

Elzahabi lived in the Boston area between 1997 and 1999, driving a cab leased from the Boston Cab Co. and living in apartments in Everett. During that period, Elzahabi associated with three other men, also former cabdrivers, who later were alleged to have separate ties to terrorist-related activities.

UPDATE: Be sure to read Robert Spencer’s take on this story.

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Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT
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