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=> Des Plaines man arrested as 'sleeper' spy for Iraq

Des Plaines man arrested as 'sleeper' spy for Iraq
Posted by Tiglath (Guest) davidchibo@hotmail.com - Tuesday, August 31 2004, 13:44:55 (CEST)
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August 31, 2004

BY NATASHA KORECKI Staff Reporter Advertisement

An Iraqi "sleeper" who was planted in the United States by Saddam Hussein's spy service and who once worked security at O'Hare International Airport lied about his intelligence ties, prosecutors said Monday, slapping the Des Plaines man with federal charges.

Sami Khoshaba Latchin, 57, of the northwest suburb was arrested Monday and charged with making false statements to U.S. immigration officials when applying for citizenship in 1998.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Latchin did not disclose his membership in the Iraqi Intelligence Service and affiliation with Iraq's then-ruling Baath Party.

Latchin allegedly traveled overseas to meet with intelligence officials three times in the late 1990s, but authorities would not go into what they say happened at those meetings except to say Latchin was paid and he did not compromise U.S. security. Latchin also was charged with falsely saying he was on vacation during those absences.

Latchin, speaking through an Assyrian interpreter in federal court, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Fitzgerald said Latchin on three occasions -- in 1994, 1996 and 1999 -- traveled overseas to meet with the Mukhabbarat, the intelligence arm of the former Iraqi government.

"We take it very, very seriously when people from a foreign intelligence service, particularly one hostile to the U.S. government at the time, come to this country and try to come here and plant themselves here," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said Latchin's presence alone as a "plant" was a threat to national security.

Latchin lived in the United States for 11 years, authorities said. He is a citizen who is now subject to denaturalization.

Latchin lived on Bay Colony Drive in a condominium for nearly eight years with his wife and son.

From 1995 to 2000 Latchin was a worker with a badge with three different security screening firms at O'Hare. He was hired by Services Services Inc. in May 1995 and subsequently by Huntleigh USA in January 1997. Another firm, Prospect, hired him April 3, 2000, but the company terminated his employment by the end of the month, Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Annette Martinez said. Martinez said she didn't know why his badge was revoked.

Martinez said that before Sept. 11, badged employees were neither fingerprinted nor did they get background checks. Today, it is required of all badged employees.

Could get 10 years



If found guilty, Latchin faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A grand jury indicted Latchin July 21. The indictment was unsealed after his arrest Monday, but Fitzgerald would not comment on the reason for the delay, saying only it was "appropriate to wait."

"We waited 30 days for a reason I can't get into, but I think it's appropriate to move forward now," Fitzgerald said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Conway said Latchin was a "spy" and a "sleeper" who "Iraqi intelligence assigned to assimilate himself into our culture and become a U.S. citizen."

He is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center pending his detention hearing at 2 p.m. Sept. 7.



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