A central Asian man arrested at Detroit Metro Airport in November (DC World News, 19 November 2002) with US$610 million in suspicious letters of credit (L/Cs) could face up to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of a counterfeit alien registration card.

But Mohamed Ahmed Issa's guilty plea has shed very little light on why he was carrying the L/Cs or why he was travelling with fake immigration documents.

No comment

Investigators from the US Attorney's Anti-Terrorism Task Force are revealing little about the case and Issa, a resident of the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan who lived near Dallas, chose to plead guilty without reaching an agreement with prosecutors, which is considered unusual for such a serious case.

"All I can say is that he pled straight up," said Assistant US Attorney Eric Straus, who handled the case. Federal prosecutors would not say what Issa was doing in the US or what he planned to do with the L/Cs or whether they were genuine. Neither Straus nor Issa's lawyer, Rafael Villarruel, of the Federal Defender's Office would discuss the case.

Sentencing

Issa, a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war, could face a fine of US$250,000 as well as a maximum 10-year term in jail when US District Judge Robert Cleland sentences him on 10 April 2003.

Unless the judge reveals more details during his sentencing, it is unlikely that any more light will be shed on the mystery surrounding Issa's intentions.

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