Serious questions are being raised about a raid on a mosque in Albany, New York last week that was hailed as a victory in the so-called war on terror. Two leaders of the mosque were arrested in a sting operation and were indicted on charges of conspiring to launder money and concealing a plot to use a shoulder-fired weapon to kill Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations. But it now appears there was no actual plot; it turns out the 2 men from the mosque were dealing with an FBI informant who is a convicted felon trying to get a reduced sentence in an unrelated fraud case. According to court documents reviewed by the Financial Times newspaper, conversations taped by the FBI informant show that Mohammed Mosharraf Hossain and Yassin Muhhiddin Aref were lured into receiving $5,000 for helping the informant to launder $45,000. As part of the sting operation, the informant invented the story that he had earned the money from smuggling an anti-aircraft weapon into the US that was to be used to strike the Pakistani consulate in New York or hit its ambassador. But the official indictment also reveals that one of the men told the FBI informant that now was not the time for “violent jihad” or struggle, and that importing such weapons was illegal. Both accused refused a request to help transport the smuggled weapon through New York.