Steve Quayle News Alerts

July 9, 2003

CHICAGO -- A 60-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on charges alleging he conspired to act as an unregistered agent of the Iraqi government, reporting to Iraqi intelligence services regarding individuals in the United States.

Authorities arrested Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi Wednesday morning at his residence at 4929 W. 109th St. in Oak Lawn.

Dumeisi was charged in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, but unsealed after his arrest, with one count each of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

He was expected to make an initial court appearance Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward Bobrick, but a time was not yet scheduled.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald (pictured, left) said in a statement that Dumeisi had furnished information to Iraqi intelligence without registering as a foreign agent, although he was not alleged to be an Iraqi intelligence agent.

"Those who gather information in the United States about people living in America for the purpose of providing the information to hostile governments should understand that the FBI will pursue them vigorously," Fitzgerald said.

Federal law requires anyone acting as an agent of a foreign government who is not a member of that country's diplomatic service to register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent.

Dumeisi never did so, federal officials said.

They said members of the Iraqi National Congress, an opposition group, discovered a dossier in a Baghdad safehouse run by Iraq's intelligence service in the days when Saddam Hussein's regime was crumbling.

Federal officials said a preliminary translation of the dossier indicated that it contained Iraqi intelligence reports from an "agent/asset" in the United State code-named "Sirhan," who officials said was Dumeisi.

Dumeisi has lived in the United States for about a decade and is a permanent resident alien, according to immigration records. Officials said he told them he is a Jordanian citizen born in Palestine.

Dumeisi was arrested based on a complaint that identifies him as the president and registered agent of a company that publishes an Arabic monthly periodical.

Among other things, Dumeisi was trained by Saddam Hussein's intelligence agents to use a pen with a hidden camera and microphone, according to federal officials.

They said he later used it to record an interview with a member of an Iraqi opposition group critical of Saddam Hussein.

According to the complaint, four unnamed cooperating individuals, including a self-described former Iraqi intelligence officer, also provided information about Dumeisi's activities. The three others were associated with his Arabic periodical.

FBI agents said Dumeisi was in contact with four people at Iraq's United Nations mission who were actually intelligence officers. One of the four was expelled from the country by the State Department in June 2002 on suspicion of spying, the FBI said.

Dumeisi allegedly told one of the unnamed sources that he received $2,000 or $3,000 from Iraqi intelligence to help gather information on opposition figures living in the United States.

http://www.nbc5.com/news/2321147/detail.html