DETROIT — Police in suburban Detroit mistakenly arrested the head of a popular Arab- American cultural center and held him overnight in jail, thinking he was a man charged in a conspiracy to funnel money to Hezbollah from the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods.
Dearborn police claiming to be investigating a break-in asked Ali Hammoud for identification and arrested him outside his home Friday night, said attorney Majed Moughni. But police had the wrong Hammoud.
A man with the same name was indicted with 18 people in Detroit in 2003 in a conspiracy involving the sale of illegal cigarettes, counterfeit Viagra and stolen goods to support Hezbollah. That man has not been found.
An FBI agent went to the Dearborn police station Saturday and told Hammoud he was not the man wanted by authorities, Moughni said.
