
US woman accused of laundering Bitcoin for Islamic State - alexanderdmitri
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42362478
======
lkerrekfjk
> Ms Shahnaz was born in Pakistan and worked as a lab technician in the US.

I'm not american, though I spend some time in US, mostly in Maine. Every-time
I hear this kind of stories, I can't help but thinking: you go through all
that trouble to immigrate to US to build yourself a lot of opportunities for
your life and all you end up doing is shit like these? while millions of
people are waiting in line wishing for a better life? Same for anybody living
an Europe who rushed to go live in the Caliphate... while people are fleeing
these very places because of the insane violence... I can't understand this.

~~~
throw901232
I was in the US an H1B worker highly skilled in a top company. I wanted to be
a US citizen. US is a great country. But I have to wait 10 years minimum
(India queue) to get a greencard and my wife cannot work because is an H4 visa
holder. So I left US and immigrated to Canada and is a citizen now.

US should stop taking in people thru diversity visas and family categories,
but skilled people like me who wants to contribute and make it big in life are
made to wait forever. Your loss US, your loss.

US' immigration system is broken. Diversity visa system & the entire family
tree of that person moving to the US in the course of time. What a burden to
the US taxpayers !. While skilled workers like me bringing high value to the
US economy are being pushed away. US immigration system is a joke. Take a cue
from Canada's express entry system and learn.

~~~
vita17
As an American, I find this opinion offensive. When you say the US needs to
import skilled workers you are insinuating that Anericans aren’t intelligent
enough or capable enough to fill positions. It doesn’t do my country any good
to import someone to do a job while there are skilled Americans looking for
work.

~~~
cldellow
I dunno, I think a country benefits when it imports talented people, full
stop. Americans can be intelligent and capable, and companies can still
benefit from hiring more people just like them (or, in some cases, more
intelligent and more capable than them).

Perhaps it'd make sense to be protectionist if there was a fixed pool of
employment/business opportunities, but I don't think that's the case for
technology workers at the moment--lots of room at the margin for talented
people.

I am possibly biased, though. I was in the US on an H1B for a few years from
2008-2011, but left due to the immigration bullshit.

------
diggan
From the article:

"Prosecutors said that Ms Shahnaz obtained a Pakistani passport in July and
booked a flight to Pakistan with a layover in Istanbul, intending to travel to
Syria.

She was arrested at John F Kennedy airport carrying $9,500 in cash, just under
the limit of $10,000 that a person can legally take out of the country without
declaring the funds.

Searches of her electronic devices showed numerous searches for Islamic State-
related material. "

Also the following:

"Prosecutors say she took out fraudulent loans of $85,000 (£63,000) in order
to buy the bitcoin online."

How you take out a fraudulent loan? How can they know her intent from just a
couple of searches? Lots of information missing from this article, and makes
me think that this woman commited thoughtcrime rather than an actual crime...

~~~
mancerayder
How were they able to search electronic devices? It's that easy / routine now
at airports?

~~~
LV-426
I’ll never bring my phone on an international flight again:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13645825](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13645825)

I Had My Electronics Seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13453189](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13453189)

A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his
phone:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13629593](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13629593)

US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13702981](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13702981)

The last one didn't even happen on US soil but at Vancouver airport; there are
now more than 600 US customs agents stationed in multiple airports around the
world:

    
    
        Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda;
        Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal,
        Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in Canada.

------
austenallred
> Her lawyer, Steve Zissou, said she was sending money overseas to help Syrian
> refugees.

> "What she saw made her devoted to lessening the suffering of a lot of the
> Syrian refugees and everything she does is for that purpose," Mr Zissou said
> outside the courthouse.

That’s a hell of a defense

~~~
ForRealsies
This defense might actually work in Germany/Sweden.

~~~
RasputinsBro
If you actually believe that, I have two pieces of advice for you:

1) Stop reading Breitbart / Dailymail.

2) Go travel a bit.

------
boomboomsubban
The arrest on the verge of her alleged flight to Syria makes this sound very
similar to the FBI undercover "terrorist" stings. She was doing nothing
obviously wrong at the airport, so the arrest signals they were expecting her.

------
killjoywashere
I get the sense that bitcoin, all these coins, are going the way of Tor:
ostensibly an innocent channel. In fact, the dominant activity is foul in the
extreme.

