This AM, 11 raids took place @ Jefferson County convenience stores; "the officers and agents were armed with 242 search warrants and plans to arrest 17 suspects."
"...owners of numerous convenience stores in the Birmingham area have been buying EBT cards from those who have been issued the cards for roughly 50 cents on the dollar."
The store owners would then purchase goods from a wholesaler, bring them back to their stores & jack up the prices. "In return, the person who sold their EBT card now had cash to buy items not allowed to be purchased under the government system, such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs."
"The massive probe, dubbed Operation T-bone, targeted those they say have been cheating the food stamp system to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and sending at least some of the profits via wire transfer to Yemen."
We mustn't forget about the victims. Deputy DA Cynthia Raulston: "Part of the problem, in my opinion, is now they don't have their food stamps card so they don't have the money to take care of their families or themselves. I think it's a huge cycle of remaining impoverished."
Check out the partial list of those arrested: "Jowher Almnasoob, Abdulrahman Alqublani, Ismail Hassan Elnaham, Saleh Yahya Rowaid, Ramzi Jowher Ali Almansoob, Mujahed Jowher Ali Almansoob, Bashir Abosaleh Mohamed, Fouad Zamzami, Muneer Zindani, Sufyan Saleh, Mansoor Almansoob."
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2015/06/fraud_ring_that_turned_ebt_car.html
