FBI monitored Muslim establishments for radioactive emission

FBI monitored Muslim establishments for radioactive emission

WASHINGTON - Federal officials confirmed on Friday that the FBI agents have been mounting secret operations to check radiation levels in Muslim establishments including mosques to determine if nuclear or chemical weapons were being assembled in the country. This secret program was first reported by the US News and World Report.

Agencies have reveled that since the 9/11 attacks, radiation detecting equipment have been installed in all entry points into the country to detect nuclear raw material. However, this is the first tome that monitoring of private property has come to light.

Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Justice Department admitted that such operations were being conducted "in publicly accessible areas to detect the presence of radiological materials, in a manner that protects U.S. constitutional rights." The monitoring is to make sure that al-Qaeda does not slip nuclear weapons into the country. But Muslim groups reacted in anger to this report.

"This disturbing revelation, coupled with recent reports of domestic surveillance without warrant, could lead to the perception that we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but instead one in which fear trumps constitutional rights," said a statement issued by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend toward a two-tiered system of justice, with full rights for most citizens, and another diminished set of rights for Muslims."

Reacting to this criticism, John Miller, an assistant director of the F.B.I said that the move was not targeted at any particular ethnic group. It has emerged that areas in Washington, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas and Seattle were among those that were monitored by the FBI. No suspicious activity has been detected so far.

Mukit Hossain, trustee of the All Dulles Area Muslims Society also condemned the operations and said, "I don't understand what good this sort of surveillance is doing. What we are doing is harassing the immigrants and citizens and we haven't found one that is a terrorist." The US News and World Report quoted unidentified sources for the report. The source was quoted as saying that many people felt uneasy about the operation, "A lot of us thought it was questionable, but people who complained nearly lost their jobs."