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>> sleeper cells are so dangerous because they're well concealed and they fly below law enforcement radar. >> a sleeper cell is when foreign operators, it could be a terrorist, it could be a spy, will embed themselves into a community. they will join clubs. they will go to school, get a driver's license, get a job. they take on all the appearances of being just another community member. >> they're sleepers because they're not committing the type of illegal activities that draw the attention of federal law enforcement. >> when actually they're establishing the capability to conduct espionage or...

So when you look at this case, in its pieces, it's cigarette smuggling. so what? the credit card fraud and identity fraud, yawn. and that's by design. it allows this organization to fly below the radar. but when you realize that you are dealing with terrorists. that they're going to export this innocuous criminal activity with lethal effectiveness, it changes the entire perspective of this. >> they're taking the proceeds of these crimes and sending it to a terrorist organization that prior to 9/11 killed more americans than any terrorist organization. >> we continued to watch them for a long p...

>> reporter: what happened to saayeed? >> he's sentenced and has been out of prison for some time. >> smoke screen still is the most important terrorism case talking about terrorist organizations and how they fund themselves. >> it was a benchmark case for the first use of the material support statute. it was the first conviction at trial in american history. and the proof now is the fact that it been used over a hundred times since this case came about. it is the primary tool to address isis and al qaeda. every single indictment of an isis or al qaeda has included material support. >> reporte...

Find out did hezbollah have sleeper cells in the united states? were they collected intelligence for an attack? did they pose a threat? for many years, mohammed hamoud attempted to get a visa to travel from lebanon to the united states. the consular officer that took his request smelled a rat. so hammoud and his two cousins traveled to venezuela and they spend about 40 days on margarita island and they obtain some really poor fake visas that they know when they get to jfk are going to be spotted. >> the three travel on separate planes and arrive in new york. their false visas are immediately d...

Hezbollah. we started looking at did hezbollah have sleeper cells in the united states. were they collected intelligence for an attack? did they pose a threat? for many years, mohammed amud attempted to get a visa to travel from lebanon to the united states. the consular officer that took his request smelled a rat. so hamud and his two cousins traveled to venezuela and they spend about 40 days on margarita island and they obtain some really poor fake visas that they know when they get to jfk are going to be spotted. >> the three travel on separate planes and arrive in new york. er that false v...