Centereach man pleads not guilty in tie to terror case

A Centereach man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan to charges that he transferred funds from Pakistan that helped the accused Times Square car-bomber, without knowing the money was intended for use in a terror plot.

Mohammad Younis, 44, was named in an indictment in U.S. District Court accusing him of conspiracy and of engaging in unlicensed money transfers through a network known as a "hawala" - an informal banking system often used in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia that uses wire transfers, couriers and overnight mail.

Arrested at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Younis - unshackled, dressed in a short-sleeve striped cotton shirt and khakis - was released on an unsecured $100,000 bond after a brief appearance before U.S. Magistrate Andrew Peck. Prosecutors agreed to his release, and his lawyer said Younis had helped investigators in the bomb case since he was first identified as a financial conduit for bomber Faisal Shahzad in May.

"My client from the beginning has fully cooperated and complied with all their directives," said attorney Phil Solages of Hauppauge. He told the judge that Younis - a Pakistani citizen and legal permanent resident in the United States - was married with a daughter.

Outside court, Solages declined to provide additional personal information about Younis because of "security concerns," but urged reporters not to demonize him.

"My client is not a terrorist," Solages said. "Mr. Younis has no ties to terrorists. Mr. Younis is a hardworking family man."

Officials, law enforcement sources and witnesses have said he once worked at a 7-Eleven in East Patchogue and worked more recently for a Pennsylvania company that supplies plants for garden departments at Lowe's home improvement stores. No one answered the door at Younis' home in Centereach Wednesday.

In a typical hawala transaction, money is delivered by a customer to a member of the network in one location, who then calls and tells a member of the network in another location to release an equal amount of money to a person designated by the customer. The network takes a commission for the service.

The indictment alleges that between January and May, Younis "provided money-transmitting services to individuals in the New York City area," including thousands of dollars transferred to Shahzad, the Connecticut man who pleaded guilty June 21 to attempting to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on May 1.

The indictment alleges Younis engaged in "two separate hawala transactions" on April 10 "without knowledge of how the customers were planning to use the funds." Unknown to him, one of the money transfers was allegedly arranged in Pakistan by associates of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, the militant group that trained and funded Shahzad.

The indictment also alleges that Younis and Shahzad spoke on the phone on April 10 while Shahzad was in Rye to discuss the transfer, and then met on Long Island to transfer the money. A second transfer cited in the indictment involved an unnamed man from New Jersey who received money through Younis.

Federal regulations require a license to conduct an international money transfer business. Younis faces up to five years in prison for operating without a license, and five years for conspiracy.

"By engaging in the alleged conduct, Mohammad Younis unwittingly funded a terror plot that, if successful, would have caused mass casualties in New York City," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement released Wednesday. "These charges remind us how international terrorists use the cover of informal money transfer systems to avoid detection and to inflict catastrophic harm."