Gold said a search of Habib’s computer found he had donated funds to a terrorist front organisation, and visited anti-American, weaponry and hazardous material training portals. He added that the Habib case is not simply an aberration.

“In the course of working on this case, I’ve come in contact with people in other state governments and in the federal government who report seeing the same pattern of people who have come into this country, who commit fraud and most of the funds are not staying here,” Gold said. “They are going back overseas. And it’s very organised.”

The San Diego meeting follows a recent Daily News series that found organised crime and terrorist groups in Los Angeles and across the US are defrauding government health and welfare programmes out of as much as $150 billion a year. Law enforcement officials say much of the money is laundered overseas where an unknown amount is used to support terror.

Bill McSweeney, the Sheriff’s Department Office of Homeland Security chief, said the agency is “more concerned than ever” about terrorist groups engaged in government fraud, narcotic trafficking and counterfeiting to raise money for their activities. “These types of crimes can quickly generate millions of dollars and are pretty darn sexy opportunities for people with terrorist enterprises,” McSweeney said.