Monday, March 09, 2009

FBI Admits Infiltration Of Southern California Mosque


An FBI agent recently revealed in a court testimony that an informant had been paid to look for evidence of terrorist activity at the Islamic Center of Irvine.

Craig Monteilh posed as a man named Frederick Jordan and converted to Islam to gather information on an Afghan-born US citizen named Ahmed Niazi. Niazi is the brother-in-law of an alleged bodyguard of Osama bin Laden. The revelation that the FBI paid Monteilh to spy on Muslims at local mosques has chilled members of the community, many of whom are resorting to praying at home rather than risk being spied on. Monteilh has testified that Niazi talked of bombing the South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island. During the four years he spent infiltrating the Muslim community in Orange County, Monteilh railed openly against US foreign policy, recorded hours of conversations between himself and members of the Islamic Center, and asked if there were any so-called operations he could join.

His conduct caused fear and concern at the mosque, leading some members to report him to the Irvine Police Department and the FBI.

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