By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
The owner of the limousine company linked to a crash that killed 20 people in New York is a former FBI informant who posed as a recruiter of terrorists and an arms dealer.
Shahed Hussain, who owns Prestige Limousine in Wilton, New York, began working for the FBI to avoid deportation after he faced federal charges for using fake documents to help a would-be taxi driver obtain a driver’s license, the New York Times reports.
One of his limos plowed through a stop sign Saturday, killing 18 people on board and two pedestrians.
State and federal investigators are scrutinizing the company to help determine the cause of the accident. The limo should not have been on the road because it had failed a state Department of Transportation inspection and the drive did not have a proper license to operate the vehicle.
After Hussain was arrested on fraud charges in December 2001, three months after 9/11, he agreed to become an FBI informant. He worked undercover, helping the FBI ensnare arrests during counter-terrorism stings.
Hussain also testified in high-profile terrorism cases.
