Joseph Mahmoud Dibee of Seattle, Washington was accused of Domestic Terrorism in connection with the organizations Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF). He faces multiple charges for crimes committed in California, Oregon, and Washington. He has been a fugitive from justice for at least 12 years. The FBI's division of counterterrorism has been in charge of the investigation.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, Assistant Director Michael McGarrity of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams for the District of Oregon, and Special Agent in Charge Renn Cannon of the FBI in Oregon made the announcement.
“Whatever the motivation, terrorism is simply unacceptable,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. “Domestic terrorism is no exception. Because of the close cooperation between our international and intergovernmental partners, Dibee will now face the consequences for his crimes. This should send a clear message to all other criminals on the run: no matter how long it takes, we will find you and we will bring you to justice.”
“We will always continue in our mission to locate and bring to justice those who threaten our national security or seek to harm the American people,” said FBI Assistant Director McGarrity. “We thank all of the agents, analysts, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, who have worked tirelessly on this case over the years.”
“More than two decades ago, a loosely affiliated group of environmental extremists set out to express their views using force, violence, sabotage, mass destruction, intimidation, and coercion,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “Thankfully no innocent lives were taken by these senseless acts. Today we recognize the FBI’s unwavering pursuit of justice in returning longstanding fugitive Joseph Dibee. Dibee will now, as many of his co-conspirators have before, face the consequences of his actions. Using violent means to express one’s views will never be tolerated nor forgotten. We will bring every last person responsible for these crimes to justice.”
“Every act of violence comes with a choice—a choice to do harm,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Cannon. “A choice to do what may be irreparable damage to a family, a business, or a researcher’s life work. A choice to risk the lives of the firefighters who will respond to an incident. Most of the defendants in the FBI's long-running Operation BACKFIRE investigation have answered for those decisions they made with significant prison sentences and millions of dollars in fines. Mr. Dibee, who traveled the world to avoid capture, will now, finally, have to answer to the allegations of violence he faces.”
Dibee was indicted in 2006 along with 12 other coconspirators. They discovered during Operation Backfire, a long running FBI counterterrorism investigation. The criminals were linked to more than 40 felony level crimes that resulted in more than 45 million dollars in damage.
One suspect remains at large from the Operation Backfire arrests. Josephine Sunshine Overaker is the only one of Dibee's coconspirators still at large. They are offering a $50000 reward for information leading to her capture.
source: Department of Justice press release
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/oregon-domestic-terrorism-suspect-custody-after-12-years-run
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