Fuqra/Muslims of America (MOA) has had a long presence in the Caribbean. MOA currently has an office in Trinidad and has had links to the Jamaat al-Muslimeen group there. It has also been active in Jamaica and possibly other countries.
A December 2010 FBI counter-terrorism report said that “the Muslims of the Americas terrorist organization” has a “jamaat” (private commune) in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
The documents confirmed that MOA is an alternative name for Jamaat ul-Fuqra and described the group as “armed and dangerous,” urging personnel to “use extreme caution when dealing with confirmed members or individuals who are believed to be associated with this group.”
Regarding MOA’s jamaats, the FBI reports said, “Organized training is also conducted to include weapons training, tactics, hand-to-hand combat, rappelling, and live-fire exercises.”
It is possible that the MOA presence in the Caribbean was built from the dissolved Islamic Political Party of America that existed in the 1970s and was led by Yusuf Muzafarrudin Hamud. The IPPA had branches in Trinidad, Guyana, Grenada, Dominica and the Virgin Islands.
He dissolved IPPA after a trip to Pakistan in 1977 where he met with the leaders of Islamist parties. In November of that year, they formed the International Islamic Education Institute with Pakistani Supreme Court Justice Barduzaman Kaikus as the chairman and Sheikh Gilani as secretary-general. Hamud said that IPPA and this new Institute would be intertwined. [i]
Notably, MOA currently has a front named the Islamic Political Party of America and it is tied to a U.S.-based group named Jamaat Al-Muslimeen, the name of a militant group in Trinidad linked to MOA. B. Raman, the counter-terrorism division of India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agencyfrom 1988 to 1994, said that Sheikh Gilani repeatedly visited the Caribbean.[ii] It is possible that trips to the Caribbean are organized through the Tablighi Jamaat movement. Extremists are known to operate under the Tablighi Jamaat name and B. Raman went so far as to say that Fuqra is a “front organization” for the movement. [iii]
In a secret videotape produced by Sheikh Gilani to advertise his guerilla warfare training in Pakistan and Kashmir, he tells viewers that MOA can be contacted in the West Indies to sign up for the courses. The video was produced in the early 1990s. [iv]
Senior MOA official Atiq Shahid wrote a letter to President Bush dated March 18, 1990 that declared that all able-bodied Muslims are obliged to participate in jihad against India over its actions in Kashmir. The letter said MOA had formed a Jihad Conference in the U.S., Canada and West Indies to provide information about the situation and material aid to the Kashmir Freedom Front. It asked President Bush to grant visas to its members so they can wage a “successful struggle.”
A book published by MOA refers to the group having a Quranic Open University campus (a MOA front) in the West Indies and says that members are punished for violating Islamic Law. The book refers to lashings. [v]
Documents from a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation of MOA from 2003-2004 states that Canadian intelligence said that the MOA compound in Ontario, named “Hasanville,” has frequent visitors from the Caribbean. Members of the Canadian compound occasionally go to Trinidad and Jamaica.
Trinidad
MOA was/is linked to the Trinidad-based Jamaat Al-Muslimeen group led by Yasin Abu Bakr, which attempted to overthrow the government in 1990. More information on the relationship between MOA and JAM is provided in the section of this website about MOA’s links to other Islamist groups. A 2015 MOA press release lists an office on Touissant Rd in Las Lomas. [vi] A 2011 issue of the Islamic Post, the MOA’s official newspaper, lists its address as being on Rashaad Ave, Mon Plasir Rd in Cunupia, Trinidad. A Facebook page the United Muslim Christian Forum (MOA’s interfaith branch) in Trinidad says it was founded in 2009 and its location is in Port of Spain. [vii]
An MOA front named White Hawk Security Consultants is advertised in an issue of the Islamic Post in 2011 and lists an address for it in Caroni, Trinidad. This is also the name of another MOA-linked security group in Virginia. The advertisement says the security group offers private investigation, debt collection, executive airport retrieval, 24-hour monitoring and response, confidential reviews, personal bodyguards, security and safety consultation, audits and risk assessments and licensed bailiffs.
However, a Trinidad newspaper reported on 2010 that a company named White Hawk SecurityConsultants Ltd would be considered defunct and removed from the registry in three months unless it is shown to be active. [viii] A search of the Trinidad Ministry Legal Affairs shows White Hawk Security Consultants as active and located in St. Helena Village, Piarco. Law enforcement sources state that the White Hawk office in Trinidad is linked to Barry Adams, also known as Tyrone Cole or “Khalifa Abu Bakr” according to MOA-affiliated sources.
1991 Toronto Bomb Plot / Barry Adams, AKA Tyrone Cole
Three Trinidad nationals were part of the MOA plot in 1991 to the Indian Centre Cinema and Mandir Vishnu Hindu temple in Richmond Hill, Toronto, killing up to 4,500 people during the Hindu Festival of Lights event. [ix] The conspirators, Tyrone Junior Cole (also known as Barry Adams), Robert Wesley and Caba Jose Harris were all found guilty and sentenced to 12 years for conspiracy to create mischief that endangers lives. They were not convicted on murder charges. They were released in 2006 and deported to Trinidad. [x] Barry Adams / Tyrone Junior Cole is said by intelligence and MOA-affiliated sources to be the leader, or “Khalifa,” of the group’s branch in Trinidad. He is the father of MOA chief executive Hussein Adams. MOA-affiliated sources say that Sheikh Gilani told his followers that Cole’s spiritual status had risen to such a high “station” while he was in prison that he would leave his body and meet with Gilani in Pakistan. Gilani said that he and Cole met with the “Ahli Bayt,” or family of the Prophet Muhammad, in this out-of- body spiritual realm.
Various sources say that Cole was originally assumed to be the successor to Sheikh Gilani, but those plans were scrapped because he was caught and prosecuted and is barred from visiting the U.S. It is believed he has significant power behind the scenes and may be the most influential khalifa. Some MOA members have pledged allegiance to Cole and refer to him as “Abu,” or father. Their primary allegiance remains to Gilani, but a pledge to khalifa is a promise to follow the orders of that khalifa if Gilani permanently leaves his body (they don’t believe he actually dies) and/or is unable to govern. MOA-affiliated sources know him by “Junior” and/or “Khalifa Abu Bakr” and most did not match the name with Cole. They knew nothing of his work except that he was “on a mission,” inferring that no further questions should be asked.
Ali Abdel-Aziz, a former MOA member who served as an informant for the NYPD for eight years including two years living at Islamberg, says MOA sent him to Trinidad to prepare for Cole’s arrival in 2006. He describes Cole as being so secretive that he is “like a ghost.” [xi]
Ali went with a MOA official from Binghamton, New York. Ali returned to Trinidad twice between 2007 and 2009 and visited the compound housing Cole, which may belong to the Jamaat Al-Muslimeen. He also went to Venezuela twice to establish a village as an alternative option for Cole. [xii]
FOX News Channel journalist Catherine Herridge reported in 2007 that a law enforcement source told her that four MOA members had just been in Trinidad and are suspected of meeting “Abu Bakr,” the leader of Jamaat Al-Muslimeen. This was assumed to be a reference to Imam Yasin Abu Bakr. However, it is possible that it was actually a reference to Cole if the MOA-affiliated sources are correct that he is known as Khalifa Abu Bakr.
MOA never publicly mentions him or highlights its work in Trinidad. No pictures or videos of Adams can be found anywhere, with the exception of a 2008 video posted on YouTube which MOA-affiliated sources say features the influential MOA Khalifa.
The video is of a sermon during which Adams urges viewers to follow in the footsteps of the “Ahli Bayt” who “fell fighting” in Karbala around the year 680. Cole calls Muslims to embody the “spirit of shahada [martyrdom]” and emulate their stand as an example of “honor” and “exemplary conduct.”
“This is a defining moment today and in the history of the Muslim ummah and the future to come,” he says.
Intelligence sources describe Cole as going “off the radar for months” in Trinidad in the summer of 2016. It is believed that he was in Venezuela.
Concern From Leaders in Trinidad
A member of the Trinidad parliament, Dr. Amery Browne, expressed concern about the MOA presence in Trinidad in 2011, describing the presence of the deportees as a “very, very dangerous development.” He also criticized the performance of the security services. [xiii] He said that the deportees had begun establishing a commune in Trinidad and MOA members from the U.S. are coming to reside there. [xiv] Senator Penelope Beckles pointed to the presence of the three deportees, noting that they have terrorism expertise, in making the case for new counter-terrorism legislation. She complained that deportees, including ones with terrorist ties, have no restrictions on their movement.
“We don’t have legislation to track them… they obviously would have been funded. When they return to Trinidad, how are they funded? How do they go about their day-to- day affairs? Some of the deportees would have been well established,” she said. [xv]
Drug Trafficking
A suspect in a 2005 Drug Enforcement Agency into MOA-linked drug trafficking in Binghamton, NY had a link to Trinidad. The suspect possessed a piece of paper with a Trinidad address on it, which referred to a “Caricom invoice” for female clothing and books.
Jamaica and Others
Michael Scheuer, former CIA intelligence officer and chief of Agency’s Bin Laden Station from 1996 to1999, said that MOA had an outpost in Jamaica, in addition to Trinidad. [xvi] Convicted Fuqra/MOA terrorist Edward Flinton said that a “pseudo-military” instructor going by the name of “The Doorsman” held classes for members in the Caribbean, but could not be more specific. He mentioned Dominica and Grenada as possibilities. It’s possible he was thinking of Trinidad.
[i] Robert Dannin and Jolie Stahl. (2005). Black Pilgrimage to Islam. Oxford University Press.
[ii] Raman, B. (1999). Dagestan: Focus on Pakistan’s Tablighi Jamaat. South Asia Analysis Group.
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper80
[iii] Raman, B. (1999). Dagestan: Focus on Pakistan’s Tablighi Jamaat. South Asia Analysis Group.
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper80
[iv] The “Soldiers of Allah” videotape is discussed in greater detail in the section of this website about
guerilla training. The video can be seen on our YouTube channel.
[v] Ahmad, Dr. Mrs. Suhir. (1994). Target Islam: Exposing the Malicious Conspiracy of the Zionists
Against the World of Islam and Prominent Muslim Leader. Quranic Open University and Pakistan
Foundation for Strategic Studies.
[vi] “American Taliban (Private Militia) Besiege Islamberg.” (2015). The Muslims of America.
http://www.tmoamerica.org/pdf/TMOA-Press- Release-Doggart_American_Taliban.pdf
[vii] “About United Muslim Christian Forum of Trinidad and Tobago.” Facebook group.
https://www.facebook.com/United-Muslim- Christian-Forum- of-Trinidad- and-Tobago- 153082524754236/about/
[viii] “Notice of Intended Removal of Defunct Companies From Register.” (2010). Trinidad and Tobago
Gazette. http://www.news.gov.tt/archive/E-
Gazette/Gazette%202010/gazette/Gazette%20No.%20160%20of%202010.pdf
[ix] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html
[x] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html
[xi] Mawyer, Martin. Twilight in America. (2011). http://www.christianaction.org/shop/twilight-in- america
[xii] Interview with journalist Mike Russell who has authored an investigative series about Ali Abdel-Aziz.
[xiii] “SIA Involved in Vindra Case, Arrest of Terrorists.’” (2011). Trinidad Express. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/____SIA_involved_in_Vindra_case__arrest_of_terrorists_-
116963408.html
[xiv] “Jamaat Al-Fuqra Regrouping in Trinidad?” (2011). Caribbean Muslims.
http://www.caribbeanmuslims.com/news/294/Jamaat-al%252dFuqra- regrouping-in- Trinidad%3F
[xv] “Beckles Sounds Warning on Deported ‘Terrorists.’” (2011). Trinidad Express.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Beckles_sounds_warning_on_deported__terrorists_-
123970184.html
[xvi] Berger, J.M. (2011). Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam. Potomac Books.
