An alleged Al-Qaeda terrorist leader from Al-Fallujah, Iraq Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri, 42, was arrested Thursday in Phoenix, AZ, where he maintained legal residency, according to a Monday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release.

The suspect is wanted in Iraq for two murders of Iraqi police he allegedly committed in 2006. However, according to his attorney disputed the claims telling a local Arizona news outlet that “the charge appears to be based on events over 12 years old and to originate from Iraqi informants with nothing to lose and everything to gain by delivering the Trump administration a supposed ‘terrorist refugee’ in an election year.”

ABC15 is reporting that the suspect was a local driving instructor and respected by the Iraqi community in Phoenix who expressed shock over his arrest. One friend told the news station that Ahmed arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 2008.

“He’d tell us he was against the extremists and he got shots multiple times in his body,” said Jabir Algarawi, a friend of Ahmed.

The press release did not state how Ahmed entered the United States, or how he maintained his residency in Phoenix. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix told this reporter that the public record of this matter doesn’t include any information about the suspect’s immigration or citizenship status.

The issue, he said, “may be raised in future hearings, including possibly the status hearing scheduled for 11:00 a.m. today or a detention hearing, the date for which is likely to be scheduled during the hearing today.”

An alleged Al-Qaeda terrorist leader from Al-Fallujah, Iraq Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri, 42, was arrested Thursday in Phoenix, AZ, where he maintained legal residency, according to a Monday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release. (Photo, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, according to a local news channel)”According to the information provided by the Government of Iraq in support of its extradition request, Ahmed served as the leader of a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists in Al-Fallujah, Iraq, which planned operations targeting Iraqi police,” the press released stated.

“Ahmed and other members of the Al-Qaeda group allegedly shot and killed a first lieutenant in the Fallujah Police Directorate and a police officer in the Fallujah Police Directorate, on or about June 1, 2006, and October 3, 2006, respectively.”

The suspect’s case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona and the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, according to ICE.

ArizonaFamily.com, a local news website released new details on the case:

According to Court records unsealed Monday reveal details of the two attacks in which armed men who were wearing masks jumped out of cars, fired on the officers and fled. Ahmed’s attorney sent an email to the news station stating that “at this early stage we know little more than what is alleged in the the complaint, but even that is troubling…The charge appears to be based on events over 12 years old and to originate from Iraqi informants with nothing to lose and everything to gain by delivering the Trump administration a supposed ‘terrorist refugee’ in an election year.”

For more information on this developing story go here.