American Among Yemen Prison Escapees

(Buffalo, NY) Readers will recall the "Lackawanna Six" al-Qaeda terrorist cell that was exposed by informants and taken down by the FBI in 2003. One member, 39-year-old Jaber A. Elbaneh, was in prison in Yemen. Now, he's not.

From BuffaloNews.com:

The Buffalo office of the FBI has confirmed that Jaber A. Elbaneh, a former Lackawanna resident accused of having ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network, was among the 23 terror suspects who escaped Feb. 3 from a Yemeni prison along with the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing attack.

The Yemen Ministry of the Interior had indicated that Elbaneh, 39, was one of the men who escaped in the breakout from the Political Security Prison in Sana, Yemen, said Peter J. Ahearn, special agent in charge of the Buffalo FBI office. But because of the difficulty in obtaining definitive information from the Yemen government, authorities were not 100 percent certain until late last week, Ahearn said.

Elbaneh is charged with providing material support to al-Qaida by attending the al-Farooq training camp run by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Elbaneh escaped with Jamal al-Badawi (right) who was convicted of plotting and implementing the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 sailors in a Yemeni port in 2000.

The U.S. government has put a $5 million reward out for information leading to Elbaneh's arrest. It would be irrational for him to show up back in his old neighborhood in Lackawanna but, since it's fairly easy to get into Canada and then sneak into the U.S., anything is possible. Frankly, I'd prefer for him to show up in the Cleveland area and make himself easy for me to spot. I could use the $5 million.

Debbie Schlussel has more on Elbaneh.