Pakistani Student Sentenced for Firearms Violations September 20, 2007
Posted by Scarecrow in 09/17/07 Associated Content.trackback
Pakistani Student Sentenced for Firearms Violations
Armalite M15 Assault Rifle
September 17, 2007
The FBI has announced the sentencing of Syed Maaz Shah, 20, who is a Pakistani national and in the United States on a student visa. He was sentenced on two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
It took a jury in Houston, Texas an hour to find him guilty, after a three day trial. Shah has been sentenced to serve 78 months, which is six and a half years in prison. When he is released, he will have another three years of supervised release. The judge gave him a harsh sentence, since the sentencing guide lines are from 21 to 27 months. He will most likely be deported after his prison sentence is complete.
The evidence presented at trial included photographs of Shah holding as well as firing an Armalite M-15, .223 caliber semi automatic rifle. He did this on private property near the town of Willis, Texas on two weekends, one being the weekend of Jan 13 and the other the weekend of March 10, 2006.
The testimony provided by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent proved that he last entered the United States in August 2005 as an F-1 student visa holder.
Under the classification of a non immigrant student, he was prohibited from possessing a firearm.
Further testimony from a special agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE) showed that the Armalite M-15 possessed by Shah in January and March 2006 was operable and manufactured in Illinois. This meant it had traveled in interstate commerce and that is a federal crime.
The jury rejected his claim that he was entrapped by undercover officers with the Houston Joint Terrorism Task Force. The government countered with the argument that he was not entrapped but he was predisposed to commit the firearms violations. To prove the fact, they presented evidence to the effect that at the time of his arrest, Shah gave an oral confession to the effect that he had an interest in weapons and had taken training for “what may come.” He went on to further state that he viewed the American forces in Iraq as invaders. He also said he thought it was his duty to prepare for Jihad. Evidence was also presented showing that he had literature about Jihad on his computer, which was seized by the FBI at the time of his arrest.
Shah testified that he did not give the oral confession and that there were many other people who had access to his computer. He also said the purpose of his visit to Willis was to go fishing. He also denied knowing that there would be firearms training over the weekend in January.
The government put many recordings into evidence that were made by an undercover police official which showed that Shah’s interest in and knowledge of those weekends were that there would be military style firearms can combat training. One of the recordings showed that he had paid $30 for ammunition before he went to the site on Jan14, 2006. The recordings also slowed that Shah and his companions, namely Houston residents Kobie Williams and Adnan Mirza, all attended the second training session in March 2006.
William previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in relation to funds that were supposed to go to the Taliban. He also pleaded guilty to firearms offenses.
Mirza was also charged with conspiracy and firearms offenses. He is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 29, 2007.
Another defendant, Shiraz Syed Qazi is another nonimmigrant student who also attended the sessions. He was sentenced to ten months for unlawful possession of a firearm.
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