A Vietnamese American in Garden Grove is accused of aiding al-Qaida

By Tam Nguyen/Nguoi Viet

 

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, a 24 year-old Asian American, resident of Garden Grove, California was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida, and lying on his passport application.

Dinh Nguyen talking to the media

Indicted Friday morning by a Los Angeles grand jury, Sinh Nguyen pleaded not guilty of the charges in a federal court in Santa  Ana. His request for bail was denied due to being considered dangerous of flight risk.

The FBI said Sinh Nguyen falsified his passport application with the intent to facilitate an act of international terrorism.

Sinh Nguyen is due back in court on October 18th. The indictment accused him of attempting to work under the direction of al-Qaida, but provided few details.

The FBI arrested Sinh Nguyen while he was waiting for a bus to Mexico earlier Friday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Heinz declined to comment.

At Nguyen’s residence, his younger brother, Dinh Nguyen, 18 said “My brother has nothing to do with al-Qaida,”

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen home

According to Dinh, his brother was in Lebanon for several years up until late 2012. The family is Catholic and his brother converted to Islam and changed his name to Hasan Abu Omar Ghannoum subsequently.

“The FBI came into my house and took everything from my room” said Dinh Nguyen. “Vinh and I live in the same room, and they also took my phone and computer.”

When asked if she believes her brother has ties to al-Qaida, Minh Nguyen, Sinh’s older sister said “we’ll let the court deal with it,”

A neighbor identified only as Julio said, “The family is quiet and I never saw anything out of the ordinary.”

Another neighbor identified as T. said “I saw about five or six cop cars and I asked myself what was going on here, and was surprised to see all the commotion.”