Miami Man Accused of Selling Video Games to Terrorists

A PlayStation game system is usually a pretty acceptable gift, unless you are shipping it to a suspected terrorist. Khaled Safadi, a business man in Doral, is accused by federal authorities of shipping Sony PlayStation 2 consoles to a shopping center in Paraguay marked by the feds a front for terrorist activity. Two other Miami business men have also been arrested in connection with the large shipments. "It's a children's toy,'' Michael Tein, Safadi's attorney told a federal judge Monday. "He is being accused of shipping a children's toy to Paraguay. It's a shame that the government has pumped this thing up as a terrorism case,'' he said.

A judge granted Safadi's release on $1.5 million bond, but he will be forced to stay home while he fights the charges. Hopefully he saved a PlayStation or two for himself. Apparently, shipping video games to terrorists is serious business to the feds, who have dropped an 11-charge indictment on Safadi, who has never had a run-in with the law. Safadi allegedly sold $720,000 in Sony PlayStation 2 consoles and digital cameras to the Galeria Page Mall in Paraguay between 2007 and 2008. U.S. intelligence officials believe the shopping center is a front for financing terrorist activities out of the Middle East, including groups like Hezbollah. That makes it the poster child for the "Do Not Do Business With" list. Authorities claim Safadi hid the shipments by providing false addresses on invoices.