The Lackawanna Six

The Lackawanna Six (also known as the Buffalo Six) are a group of Yemeni Americans who were convicted of providing "material support" to Al-Qaeda. The group was accused of traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the spring of 2001 to attend terrorist training camps.^[10] The men had claimed that their travel was to Pakistan only, and for the purpose of religious instruction.
The group was arrested in Lackawanna on September 13, 2002, by the FBI. A member of the Lackawanna Cell, Jaber A. Elbaneh, never returned to the U.S. after his trip to Afghanistan. In September 2003 the FBI announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Captured by Yemen police, he was convicted and sentenced to a prison in Yemen for involvement in the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen. The remaining members of the group pleaded guilty in December 2003 and were given various sentences in federal prison.^[11]
Jaber Elbaneh escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2006 after joining a successful group prison break. He was identified as one of 23 people, 12 of them Al-Qaeda members, who escaped on February 3, 2006. On February 23, 2006, the FBI confirmed the escape, as they issued a national press release naming Elbaneh to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.^[12] On May 20, 2007, Elbaneh turned himself in to Yemen authorities on the condition that his prison sentence would not be extended. The incident of the Lackawanna Six has tarnished the city's reputation, but it is recovering.^[13]
In July 2009, it was reported that prior to authorities sending in 130 federal and local members of the Western New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, there were suggestions that federal troops be used to capture the suspects.^[14] At the time, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believed that the Yemeni men should be declared enemy combatants and could have been tried by a military tribunal. President Bush rejected this proposal, and the arrests proceeded without incident.^[14]