In Lodi, the U.S. City with Highest Concentration of Pakistanis, Community Stunned by Arrests

June 17, 2005

Source: New California Media

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=a6d528bf5575f7920ec1cf7b27d79795

On June 17, 2005 New California Media reported, "Pakistani community in the farming city of Lodi, Calif., was stunned when FBI last week arrested two Pakistani Americans and three Pakistani nationals for allegedly operating an Al Qaeda cell in the city. One of the men arrested, 22-year Hamid Hayat, is accused in a FBI criminal complaint of training in an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan to learn 'how to kill Americans' and then lying to FBI agents about it. His father, 47-year Umer Hayat, is charged in the complaint with lying about his son’s involvement and his own financing of the Al Qaeda camp. Meanwhile, two Pakistani nationals, Shabbir Ahmed, imam of the Lodi Mosque, and Mohammad Adil Khan, a former Imam of the mosque, were arrested on June 6 on the charge of immigration violations. The next day Mohammad Hassan Adil, 19, son of Mohammad Khan, was also arrested on immigration violations. FBI agents searched Shabbir Ahmed’s house, next door to the mosque, and another house about four blocks away from the mosque. The family whose residence was searched had just returned from a four-month stay in Pakistan. The arrest of Pakistanis has caused panic in the Pakistani community in Lodi which has the largest concentration of Pakistanis in any US city. About seven percent of Lodi’s 60,000 population is of Pakistani origin, according to some estimates. The FBI also questioned a number other Pakistanis and Muslims."