By Associated Press
Buffalo, NY – The government is investigating a convicted cigarette smuggler's apparent ties to a group of Lackawanna men who attended an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan in 2001.
Federal prosecutors say Aref Ahmed, 27, contributed $14,000 to help pay the way for five of the so-called Lackawanna Six, each of whom pleaded guilty late last year to providing material support to a known terrorist organization.
Ahmed's alleged connection to the Yemeni-American men was revealed late Wednesday following his conviction in US District Court on a charge of conspiring to commit money laundering. Ahmed was one of five people found guilty in a cigarette smuggling case that put millions of cartons of untaxed cigarettes on the black market in Michigan and New York.
Ahmed's attorney Paul Cambria says the Niagara Falls man denies the allegations and accuses the prosecutor of "grandstanding."
Despite the government's public statements about Ahmed's alleged support of the terrorist training, no criminal charges were immediately filed.