The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) are the primary sources of counter-terrorism intelligence operations for the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). They do it all when it comes to investigating terrorism threats against the United States. And when they’re not busy tracing sources of terrorist funding, responding to threats of anthrax and biological weapons, stopping terrorists with explosives or failing to act on warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, they spend their free time cracking down on steroid dealers and keeping the streets of America safe from the muscle-building drugs known as anabolic steroids.
Pity the steroid dealers who bring the wrath of the “committed investigators, analysts, linguists, SWAT experts, and other specialists from dozens of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies” that comprise the JTTFs.
Amar Naim Tharee and Ahmed Aydan Hannon Al-Bishara never stood a chance. Never mind the fact that JTTF field office in San Antonio, Texas found no evidence linking the two men to terrorism. Tharee and Al-Bishara were suspected of involvement in the nefarious business of selling muscle-building drugs.
The suspicion was enough to warrant a five-month investigation by the FBI JTTF into the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids by the auto repair shop employee and the taxi cab driver.
The JTTF was able to allocate at least three agents – two Task Force Officers and one Special Agent – to conduct advanced surveillance and electronic monitoring of controlled buys (with the use of cooperating witnesses) on at least four occasions during the five-month steroid investigation.
The federal government filed a criminal complaint against Tharee and Al-Bishara on April 23, 2013 based on controlled buys involving 74 vials of anabolic steroids (38 vials of nandrolone decanoate and 36 vials of testosterone enanthate) purchased for a total price of $8,160. The two men were arrested on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids.
Like many things done in the United States in the name of “terrorism”, governmental counter-terrorism tools are often used to investigate activities that have nothing to do with terrorism. And when it comes to steroids, the government doesn’t even bother hiding the fact.
It is not the first time that the specter of terrorism was used to keep Americans “safe” from anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. United States Attorney General Eric Holder proudly praised the Justice Department’s use of terrorism laws to disrupt the illegal distribution of human growth hormone (hGH) by Genescience Pharmaceutical (GeneSci) in 2009.
As the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces comes under criticism this week for its handling of intelligence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev that could have possibly averted the tragic Boston Marathon bombing, they certainly needed some good news. Unfortunately, the only good news is that they were able to stop Amar Naim Tharee and Ahmed Aydan Hannon Al-Bishara from selling steroids.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces – keeping Americans safe from terrorists AND anabolic steroids. After all, some experts consider steroid use “a little bit like terrorism.”
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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