DC:
Terrorists have repeatedly trafficked food stamps to finance attacks in a form of “welfare jihad,” according to a new report.
The Government Accountability Institute found that the Boston Marathon bombers conducted various forms of fraud, including through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, program, which was formerly called food stamps. Others have committed similar fraud in a scheme GAI called “welfare jihad,” where taxpayer money is used to fund domestic and international attacks.
The Boston bombers, who took $100,000 in public assistance, including through subsidized housing, food and welfare, read an English-language al-Qaeda magazine that taught them how to make their bomb, and encouraged readers to “steal money from disbelievers … as a form of jihad,” GAI reported.
The pair detonated a bomb during the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring hundreds more. One brother died during the subsequent manhunt and the other was sentenced to death.
Ali Ugas Mohamud of Arlington, Texas, ran a store that stole $1.4 million in food stamp funds, GAI reported. Mohamud would purchase food stamps and would wire his profits to Somalia. He was sentenced to nearly five years in prison in 2013.
Such fraud is made possible by the expansion of food stamp benefits and the lack of screening into whether recipients are actually eligible, according to GAI. more
