Mohamad Hammoud, his brothers and friends blended into America quickly after arriving here in the early 1990s. They landed jobs delivering pizzas, got married and bought homes in modest neighborhoods. A federal jury decided last year that they also secretly established one of the most sophisticated terrorism fundraising cells detected in recent years in the USA — for Hezbollah, an organization that before al-Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks had killed more Americans than any terrorist group. The cell led by Hammoud, 30, a native of Lebanon, generated up to $2 million in profits from smuggling cigarettes purchased in North Carolina and sold in Detroit to elude Michigan’s taxes. Part of the proceeds were used to buy high-tech military equipment that was smuggled into Lebanon for use against Israelis. A U.S. official says there are ”hundreds” of Hezbollah members in the USA. Not all are potential terrorists; many support Hezbollah’s desire to form an Iranian-style government in Lebanon. Full Story
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