Posted on 08/20/2004 11:48:56 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
HOUSTON (AP) - A South African woman pleaded not guilty Friday to immigration charges in a case that raised concerns about whether terrorists could enter the country by way of Mexico. Farida Goolam Mahamed Ahmed, 48, was arrested July 19 after being stopped by the Border Patrol at McAllen-Miller International Airport in south Texas as she tried to board a plane bound for New York.
She carried a pair of muddy, wet pants in her baggage, $7,300 in various currencies and a passport with three double-sided pages missing. Border Patrol agents determined Ahmed did not have a valid visa for entry into the United States.
Ahmed was scheduled for trial Oct. 12. Her attorney, federal public defender Brent Newton, estimated the trial would last four days.
During a court hearing in McAllen, testimony indicated Ahmed traveled from Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 8, via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to London, then to Mexico City on or about July 14.
The countries she traveled through do not require South Africans to have visas. She then allegedly crossed into the United States illegally by wading across the Rio Grande.
She was charged with illegally entering the United States, using an altered passport and making a false statement to a federal agent.
After Ahmed's arrest, investigators tried to determine whether she had ties to terrorist groups.
Don DeGabrielle, first assistant U.S. attorney in Houston, on Friday declined to specify terrorism concerns connected to Ahmed's case or say whether she is on a watch list for terrorists. Law enforcement officials have previously said nothing regarding terrorism has been substantiated.
"This is an immigration case and we're treating it as one," he said after Ahmed's court appearance.
The Monitor in McAllen reported in its Saturday editions that Ahmed's sister and two nieces were being held by authorities in New York on immigration charges.
Daniel Ngwepe, a political counselor for the South African Embassy in Washington, told the newspaper that the three were detained on charges of being in the United States illegally after Ahmed had telephone conversations with them from her prison cell.
Ngwepe said he did not know whether Ahmed's phone calls or the investigation had led authorities to her relatives.
Innocent??? Innocent my buttocks.
Does that mean they're going to give her a driver license, welfare check, and immunity from prosecution?
Rats. I thought maybe the INS had grabbed Kerry's wife.
"Daniel Ngwepe, a political counselor for the South African Embassy in Washington, told the newspaper that the three were detained on charges of being in the United States illegally after Ahmed had telephone conversations with them from her prison cell. "
Darwin at work...I am an illegal alien, therefore I call other illegal aliens from my prison cell while in jail for illegal entry with an arab name and travel record.....
The way this sentence is worded it sounds to me like they were watching closely and monitored her phone call after she was in custody. The arrests came when they relayed the info to the local New Yawk authorities.
Let'em all cool their heels in Gitmo for a couple of decades.
Hopefully the FBI, HS or whomever handles these cases are doing a thorough check on these three.
Ramzi Yousef and other AQ operatives use women to open bank accounts or purchase cellphones under their names.
After they find her guilty, I hope they throw her under the jail.I heard she had entered the U.S. up to 250 times illegally? That
may be a stretch. Or maybe not ?? .....
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