The FBI arrested 20 people Wednesday in two terrorism investigations, including a high-profile Saudi Arabian graduate student at the University of Idaho. The arrests, part of an FBI effort to disrupt networks that finance terrorism, stem from investigations of two groups of defendants. A grand jury in Syracuse, N.Y., accused four men and two charities — Help the Needy and Help the Needy Endowment Inc. — with funneling $2.7 million to Iraq. Three of the men are in custody. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 34, was arrested at his apartment in Moscow, Idaho, on charges filed in Boise that he routed thousands of dollars from Saudi sources to a Detroit Islamic group associated with Help the Needy. Grand juries in Wisconsin and Mississippi charged 16 people with sending money to the Middle East from a coupon redemption scam involving 300 stores in 15 states. The FBI is investigating how the money was used. All 16 suspects were arrested. Al-Hussayen, a past president of the Muslim students’ association at the University of Idaho, is seeking his doctorate in computer science with an emphasis on guarding computer systems from cyberattack, prosecutors said. He allegedly set up and operated a half-dozen Web sites for the Islamic Assembly of North America in Detroit. Full Story
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