8 Broke Embargo on Libya, Charges Say

WASHINGTON — Eight men, six of them Libyans, were charged Thursday in Alexandria, Va., with using a McLean, Va.-based student group and a District of Columbia travel agency as fronts to violate the U.S. trade embargo on Libya, gather intelligence and “further Libyan foreign revolutionary policy” in the United States.

A 40-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury charged the defendants with conspiracy, money laundering and violations of U.S. trade sanctions against Libya. The eight allegedly financed their illegal activities from $17.4 million in Libyan funds sent here for Libyan student expenses.

As part of the alleged conspiracy, two of the defendants, Adel Sennosi of Denver and Mousa Hawamda, a Washington travel agency owner, purportedly used the Peoples Committee for Libyan Students in McLean “to acquire personal information about a high-ranking U.S. official.” Sources have named former White House aide Oliver L. North as the official.

Last week, U.S. Atty. Henry E. Hudson and an FBI agent said in court that Hawamda had gathered the information for a “possible assassination plot,” an allegation that was not mentioned in the indictment.