Muslim Halal food logo
Muslim Halal food logoIsrael news photo

Approximately 100 armed federal agents, backed by a helicopter, 50 vehicles and sharpshooters, raided a Muslim meat packing plant earlier this week but remain silent about the secret operation. Only half a dozen people work at the plant.

No one was arrested, but one eyewitness said the huge police force indicates that the raid may involve criminal activity other than hiring illegal immigrants. Terror-related activity has not been ruled out, but officials have refused all comment on the case.

Chicago news sources said the plant’s owner, a resident of Chicago, was arrested at his home and that documents were seized from the plant.

The kosher AgriProcessers meat packing plant was raided last year because of the hiring of illegal Mexican immigrants.

The Muslim meat packing plant is operated by First World Management in Kinsman, Illinois, where government workers involved in the raid did not explain why Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents joined immigration officers in the operation.

Several officers pulled their guns as agents surrounded an unidentified man in Middle Eastern garb. The plant processes and packs goat meat in accordance with Muslim dietary laws. A Muslim prayer room in the plant also was raided.

The number of agents involved in the raid “was too much overkill for immigration,” according to Jim Cavaness, a part-time handyman worker at the plant. "Obviously, it was more than what was needed here, but why they felt the need to come forward with that much manpower allegedly, it's too early to say,” said Company attorney George Jackson III.

Illinois records show that the president of the plant is Tahawar Rana, who also owns another company that sells Halal food, prepared according to Muslim dietary laws. He also is listed as the director of the Canadian-based Macro Traders firm, an export and import agency.