Utah arrest could have al-Qaida tie

The brother of a man suspected of ties to the al-Qaida terrorist group has been arrested in Utah and indicted on charges of loan fraud and money laundering.

The question that federal authorities are trying to answer is whether Sharif Omar funneled some of that money to support terrorist activities. Omar is the brother of Shawqi Omar, who is being investigated for ties to al-Qaida in Iraq.

"We do have some indications of where the money went," said Greg Bretzing, a special agent with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Utah. "We know some went to Jordan overseas and a lot went to personal accounts. What exactly it was spent on or what happened to it overseas is still under investigation."

Sharif Omar, 37, of Cottonwood Heights, appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court on four counts of bank fraud and money laundering. Family members looked on as U.S. marshals led Omar, in chains and wearing a red Salt Lake County Jail jumpsuit, into the courtroom. During the brief hearing, U.S. District Magistrate Judge David Nuffer ordered Omar released from custody, pending trial.

Asked if there were any terrorist ties between his brothers and al-Qaida, Gus Omar told the Deseret Morning News, "None whatsoever."

"The money was coming from Jordan, not going there," he said as he walked quickly out of court Thursday.

Emotions ran high outside the federal courthouse just before the hearing as family members scuffled with a Deseret Morning News photographer, threatening to hit him. Federal Protective Services (a division of the Department of Homeland Security) and Salt Lake City Police were investigating the altercation Thursday.

Later, a member of Omar's family came outside the courthouse to apologize to news photographers, saying the family had been under a lot of stress since Sharif Omar's arrest.

According to grand jury indictments handed up in October 2005 and unsealed this week, Omar and his brother-in-law, Ahmad Abudan, 35, of Chula Vista, Calif., took part in an auto loan fraud scheme that yielded $40,000. That money, according to officials, was then sent to a bank in the country of Jordan.

However, federal agents told the Deseret Morning News they had no conclusive proof that the money went to support terrorism.

"We're not saying — nor has it been alleged in any of the indictments — that this money has made its way into the hands of terrorists," Bretzing said. "What we are doing is investigating where that money's gone, what it's been used for, and certainly it is our responsibility to determine if it has been sent overseas, whose hands it's in and what the purpose is."