This article has been posted to DoctorZin’s New News Blog!
Posted on 07/29/2004 8:46:31 AM PDT by pwatson
Al-Qaeda using SA passports July 28, 2004
Harlingen, Texas - Federal authorities are investigating a South African woman whom they say tried to board a flight near the US-Mexico border with an altered passport, amid reports that South African passports have ended up in the hands of terrorists.
Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed (48) was arrested July 19 at the McAllen airport and charged four days later with illegal entry into the United States, falsifying information and falsifying a passport. She was denied bail yesterday by a federal magistrate.
A senior federal law enforcement official said yesterday that investigators were trying to determine whether the woman had ties to terrorist groups. So far nothing has been substantiated.
South African officials have acknowledged that al-Qaeda militants and other terrorists travelling in Europe have obtained South African passports.
Authorities believe they got them from crime syndicates operating inside the government agency that issues the documents, and are working to counter the threat posed by illegal passports.
Barry Gilder, director general of the Department of Home Affairs, said he had come across a number of instances in which SA passports were found in the hands of al-Qaeda suspects or their associates in Europe - both in his current capacity and as a former deputy director in the National Intelligence Agency.
Gilder described these as "isolated" cases, but said his department was moving aggressively to counter the threat, dedicating more senior officials to fight corruption and introducing ID cards and passports containing microchips with the owner's fingerprints.
"We do not want our country to be used either as a staging post or haven for terrorists," Gilder said.
Officials say crime syndicates are selling SA identity documents and passports for as little as R500.
They sell mostly to economic migrants, who find it easier to enter Europe or the US on an SA passport than one from their own country.
But terrorists now appear to be tapping into these networks, Gilder said.
SA Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi called attention to the illegal acquisition of passports when he told the National Assembly's safety and security committee that a number of people with "evil intentions against this country" were arrested here and sent home shortly before April 14 elections.
This prompted the arrests of suspected al-Qaeda members in Jordan, Syria and Britain.
"In part of this operation, in London, British police found boxes and boxes of SA passports in the home of one of these people, or an associate of these people," Selebi said, according to local news reports.
The fact that these were genuine SA passports, not forgeries, was of particular concern, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said.
"They (al-Qaeda members) certainly did not pick up those passports out there in their countries," she told parliament's Home Affairs committee in June. "A member of the department must have sold those passports to them."
Ahmed was arrested as she tried to board a flight for New York and could not provide a visa to prove her legal travel within the US, FBI Special Agent Daniel Delgado said in an affidavit.
Ahmed provided an SA passport that was missing four pages, according to the affidavit. Authorities said she said that her visa was in New York.
Authorities searched Ahmed's bags and found a pair of wet and muddy pants in one and plane tickets and flight schedules in another.
They said that she later told them she was smuggled into the US from Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande.
"I did come here illegally, I came through the bush," Ahmed told FBI agents in a voluntary interview on July 21, the affidavit said.
According to the flight itineraries, on July 8 Ahmed travelled from Johannesburg through Dubai and the United Arab Emirates and then to London.
A July 14 British Airways itinerary showed a trip from London to Mexico City.
Kyle Welch, Ahmed's court-appointed attorney, said his client was not charged with any terrorist activity and did not have a criminal record.
FBI Agent Gary Simmons testified at Ahmed's court hearing that she was carrying about $6 350 (R40 000), along with British currency, one South African Krugerrand gold coin worth about $400 (R2 520) and Mexican pesos.
In Texas, Eddie Rios, a spokesperson for the US Border Patrol at McAllen, said the agency had not been told that South African passports were being used by terrorists.
Sounds like a VERY good reason to stop and deeply scrutinize anyone travelling on a South African passport. Of course, the PC liberals will say that it is profiling and we wouldn't want to offend anybody.
Strange vernacular to use--I've honestly never heard it used in the US before. I'd check to see if she has connections to Australia based on that alone.
Pun intended?
That old terrorist, Mandela, strikes again.
Put her on another flight - to Gitmo!
Mandela hasn't been in power in SA for years.
"The Bush" in South African (or Australian) parlance means the desert or the countryside.
I didn't know that term was used in South Africa (though I should have guessed). I just find it interesting she would use such a site-specific phrase like that...could make it easier to track her. I assumed that she was not from South Africa, given the number of fraudulant passports issued from there, but who knows. Hope the media follows this story rather than letting it fall into the memory hole.
I might need my tinfoil hat here, but isn't the lovely Tereza from South Africa? And isn't there something about that Tide Foundation, and who they fund?
Call me paranoid, but sometimes when there's smoke there just might be some fire....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.