Americans paid for hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria, federal prosecutors revealed in announcing charges against the nongovernmental organization employee who they say was responsible for the diversion.
Mahmoud Al Hafyan, who ran the organization’s Syrian division, skimmed as much as $10 million worth of meals funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The meals were supposed to go to Syrian civil war refugees. Mr. Al Hafyan allowed members of the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization, to collect the meals, U.S. investigators said as they unsealed an indictment last week.
All told, 380,000 meal kits were skimmed off for the Nusra Front in what authorities called a shocking abuse of U.S. taxpayers’ generosity.
“Not only was Al Hafyan supporting violent terrorists, but he was stealing money from the U.S. government that was meant for humanitarian efforts,” said Sanjay Virmani, special agent in charge of counterterrorism at the FBI’s Washington field office.
Court documents didn’t name the NGO but listed the federal grant numbers involved. Those grants were traced back to Catholic Relief Services.
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