Jaber A. Elbaneh, who allegedly helped recruit the Lackawanna Six and is described by the

FBI as one of the world&#8217s most-wanted terrorists, is once again in custody in his home

country of Yemen, The Buffalo News learned Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors and FBI agents want him returned to Buffalo to face criminal charges in

the Lackawanna Six case that have been pending against him since 2002. They charge that he was

part of the group of Lackawanna men who trained at an al-Qaida terrorist camp in Afghanistan.

But because Yemen has no extradition agreement with the United States, authorities said

that there is no way of knowing whether Elbaneh, 43, will ever return to face the charges.

Yemeni authorities have had Elbaneh in custody several times in the past seven years, but

Yemen&#8217s government has refused requests from the U.S. government to extradite him.

&#8220We are aware that he is in custody in Yemen and that he has asked for an attorney to

represent him on the charges we filed against him,&#8221 U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter

said Wednesday afternoon.

&#8220We do want to prosecute him [in Buffalo], but as you know, there is no extradition

treaty between the U.S. and Yemen.&#8221

Mehltretter and other law enforcement officials declined to discuss how, when or why

Elbaneh recently landed in the custody of Yemeni officials. A spokesman at Yemen&#8217s

embassy in Washington did not respond to telephone or e-mail messages from The News.

A Buffalo attorney, James W. Grable Jr., confirmed that he has been assigned by U.S.

District Judge William M. Skretny to represent Elbaneh.

&#8220I really can&#8217t tell you anything else because I haven&#8217t had a chance yet to

talk with [Elbaneh] or his family,&#8221 Grable said.

Lackawanna friends and family members of Elbaneh have repeatedly called the Lackawanna High

School alumnus a law-abiding, devout Muslim who never would become involved in terrorism.

Elbaneh, a father of at least seven children, still has family living in Lackawanna, and

one of his relatives was the victim of a terrorist attack.

In September 2008, his 18-year-old cousin, Susan Elbaneh of Lackawanna, was one of 16

people killed in a terrorist attack outside the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. She had traveled to

Yemen to participate in a marriage arranged by her family, and law enforcement officials

called her an innocent victim of terrorism.

Because of his alleged role in the Lackawanna case, Elbaneh is a high-priority fugitive

sought by the FBI and U.S. State Department.

And according to media reports in Yemen, he has also been convicted of terrorism-related

crimes there.

Almost four years ago, the FBI put him on its list of the world&#8217s most-wanted

terrorism suspects. The list, which currently includes 28 names, is headed by Osama bin Laden,

who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks as leader of al-Qaida.

The State Department in 2003 issued a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to

Elbaneh&#8217s capture.

Federal investigators believe that Elbaneh helped Kamal Derwish recruit six young men from

Lackawanna who traveled to an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan for training in May 2001.

The recruits all pleaded guilty to federal charges and were sentenced to prison terms after

their arrests in September 2002.

Derwish was later reported killed in a CIA missile strike in Yemen.

U.S. officials believe that as many as three dozen Americans who converted to Islam while in

prison in the United States have traveled to Yemen over the past year, possibly to be trained

by al-Qaida, according to a Senate report.

The arrivals have alarmed U.S. counterterrorism officials, who believe that al-Qaida in

Yemen has expanded its recruitment efforts &#8220to attract nontraditional followers&#8221

capable of carrying out more ambitious operations.

The report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee underscores the growing anxiety in the

United States about the al-Qaida offshoot, which is accused of orchestrating the attempted

suicide bombing of a U.S. jetliner bound for Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

Authorities believe that Elbaneh, who had lived in Lackawanna for years and worked at a

South Buffalo cheese factory, was in the Middle East when agents arrested the Lackawanna Six.

A grand jury indictment obtained in Buffalo by Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul

Jr. charges Elbaneh with providing material support to bin Laden and al-Qaida.

Federal agents and prosecutors in Buffalo have been frustrated for years by their inability

to make arrangements to bring Elbaneh back here to face trial.

Elbaneh has been in Yemeni custody before &#8212 in February 2006, according to federal

officials. But he and 22 other men, including many with alleged ties to terrorism, escaped

later that month after digging a tunnel below a high-security prison in Sana, Yemen&#8217s

capital.

In February 2008, Elbaneh was photographed walking into a courtroom in Yemen. He wore a

long, well-groomed beard and elaborate, traditional Muslim clothing during the court

appearance. Authorities allowed him to leave the courtroom after the proceeding.

In May 2008, the Associated Press in Yemen reported that Elbaneh had been convicted in

Yemen&#8217s courts of plotting to attack Yemeni oil installations and for his involvement in

a 2002 attack on a French oil tanker. The news organization said Elbaneh was sentenced to 10

years in Yemen&#8217s prison system for those crimes.

But in a story published last month, the Yemen Times newspaper said Elbaneh had been

&#8220captured&#8221 by Yemen authorities &#8220a few weeks ago.&#8221

&#8220They&#8217re refusing to extradite Jaber Elbaneh [to the U.S.] because they&#8217re

questioning him about his links to al-Qaida and the terror cell that was busted here in

2002,&#8221 the Yemeni newspaper reported.

In November 2006, Jaber Elbaneh&#8217s uncle, Mohamed T. Albanna, was sentenced to five

years in federal prison for running a Buffalo business that illegally sent money to people in

Yemen.