Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Twenty-Nine (Index)

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The Threat Matrix

The title refers to a daily report given to the president of the United States detailing the most serious terrorist threats against the country. To tackle those threats, the government has formed a top-notch task force to infiltrate the terror cells and cut off the danger.

"Every morning, the president receives a list of the top ten terrorist threats - this list is known as the threat matrix."

We here at FR are trying to be in conjunction with the daily reports around the world that involve threats. We try to provide a storehouse of information that takes hours of research.

YOU be the judge and get informed!

Was Bomber's "New York" Shirt A Message?
Full Story

It's hardly a unique fashion statement for a mass transit rider: a Yankees-style cap, and a "New York" sweat shirt.

But the New York Police Department is teaming with British authorities to determine whether those items were worn by suspects in the London terror cases to send a "purposeful message" to the city, according to an NYPD officials.

David Cohen, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of intelligence, raised the concern earlier this week at a security briefing for business leaders at police headquarters in Lower Manhattan.

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat."

TM Terrorism Handbook

Link to Thread Twenty-Eight

"Code Red Implications:
Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word."
From Tm'er and Freeper ~MamaDearest~

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TM 'Be on the Lookout'

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Threat Matrix HTML designed by: Ian Livingston

Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/08/007901print.html

August 30, 2005

Al-Arian jury puts trial in doubt

A few days ago I wrote in a column that Al-Arian's supporters would not be laughing for long. However, this is a group that knows well how to play the system, and they will play this for all it's worth and then some. Al-Arian walk watch, from the St. Petersburg Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

TAMPA - Was there jury misconduct?
That is the question the federal judge in the trial of Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants must answer in the next few days. Then he must decide whether to dismiss up to three jurors and, then, whether to declare a mistrial in the 13th week of the trial.

At the end of last week, a juror sent an anonymous note to the judge asking: "Could you just remind the jury to keep their opinion to their self?"

On Monday, U.S. District Judge James S. Moody questioned each juror one by one, in the absence of the other jurors, about the note and the reason for it. Were any jurors discussing the case and giving opinions, he wanted to know.

Of the 12 jurors and six alternates, 15 said they had not heard any discussion or opinions pertaining to the trial and knew nothing about the note. But two said they had heard discussion and opinions. One of those two said she had written the note to the judge. A third juror said she had advised the concerned juror to write the note.

One juror, identified as juror No. 214, told the court he did not write the note, but "heard people making different comments about some things, comments about the school (Islamic Academy of Florida)."

"This particular juror believed this was a front for the PIJ," juror No. 214 said....

Posted at August 30, 2005 08:45 AM

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=560245&nid=25
AP

"Day Laborer Charged in Burned Body Case"
Updated: Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005 - 6:19 PM

By DERRILL HOLLY
Associated Press Writer

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "FAIRFAX, Va. - Surveillance camera video led police to a day laborer charged with murdering a man whose badly burned body was found in Annandale.

Investigators on Tuesday credited help from other day laborers who were shown pictures taken by the camera. Carlos Bustamonte-Medieta, 29, a Honduran national who lives in Annandale, was nabbed on a fugitive warrant Monday night after voluntarily speaking with officers.

Police believe contractor Hak Bong Kim hired the suspect to help with electrical work at a home in Chevy Chase, Md., on Aug. 14, the day Kim was last seen alive.

"There were blood spots that were found on the scene," said Lieut. Phil Raum, deputy director of the Montgomery County Police Department's Major Crimes Division. An autopsy determined Kim, 55, had been stabbed to death. A passer-by discovered his remains in a wooded area of Annandale on Aug. 15."

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http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/050826sanantonio.htm

News Release

August 26, 2005

HONDURAN FUGITIVE ARRESTED BY ICE OFFICERS

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A Honduran national convicted of indecency with a child by contact was arrested here Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and removal officers.

Santos Cornelio-Gonzales, 30, has been on the run and hiding from authorities since 2004. He was at his home in San Antonio where he’s been living since he entered the United States through Laredo, Texas in 1998.

Local police arrested and charged Cornelio-Gonzales with indecency with a child by contact and assault. The Travis County District Attorney’s office convicted him of the charges in 2000 and sentenced him to a one-year jail term. Under immigration law, as a convicted criminal alien he became eligible for deportation.

A federal immigration judge reviewed his case in February 2004 and found him ineligible for any form of relief from deportation. Cornelio-Gonzales appealed the judge’s decision with the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The BIA reaffirmed the judge’s final order in July. However, Cornelio-Gonzales chose to ignore the BIA’s decision and remained in the United States.

“Ignoring a final order of removal is a violation of federal law,” said Marc J. Moore, ICE San Antonio field office director for Detention and Removal Operations. “ICE immediately issues a warrant for arrest for anyone who receives final orders of removal. So fugitives beware; we will find you and we will deport you.”

Cornelio-Gonzalez is being held at the South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall, Texas, pending his deportation to Honduras.

This arrest is part of a national ICE initiative to arrest and remove fugitives in hiding who have been ordered deported from the country. The National Fugitive Operation Program (NFOP) was established in February 2002, making the apprehending absconders a priority within the Department of Homeland Security. The NFOP’s primary mission is to identify, locate, apprehend, process and remove fugitive aliens from the United States.

# ICE #

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http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/050829seattle.htm

August 29, 2005

ICE-LED, MULTI-AGENCY GANG CRACKDOWN LEADS TO ARREST OF 24 MEMBERS & ASSOCIATES OF MS-13 IN SEATTLE AREA
Local MS-13 leader is among those arrested in latest Operation Community Shield action

SEATTLE – A total of 24 members and associates of the violent Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang were arrested here last week on a range of criminal and administrative charges in a coordinated multi-agency enforcement operation. Among the 20 foreign nationals and four United States citizens taken into custody was Yoni Gonzales, a known MS-13 gang leader in the Seattle area.

The week-long operation was organized by ICE as part of “Operation Community Shield,”a n ongoing national ICE anti-gang initiative designed to disrupt, dismantle, and prosecute violent gang members and their organizations. Other agencies participating in the Seattle operation included the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Washington Department of Corrections; the Seattle Police Department; the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force; and the United States Attorney’s Office.

The majority of the men arrested during last week’s operation had criminal histories, including prior convictions for narcotics distribution and assault. Almost all of the subjects admitted being members of MS-13 in the Seattle area and had tattoos showing their gang affiliation. The non-citizens taken into custody included foreign nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico.

“We have a message for the violent street gang members in America: ‘stopping your violence and criminal activities is high on our list of ICE’s priorities,”’ said Brad Bench, acting special agent-in-charge for ICE investigations in Seattle. “Working with our law enforcement counterparts, we are going to use every tool at our disposal to take these criminals off the streets and break the cycle of gang-related violence that is threatening the safety of our communities.”

In January, ICE launched Operation Community Shield, a national anti-gang initiative that brings all of ICE’s law enforcement powers to bear in the fight against violent gangs. Initially, Operation Community Shield targeted members of MS-13. In May, ICE expanded Operation Community Shield to include all criminal street gangs and prison gangs with foreign-born members.

To date, Operation Community Shield has resulted in the arrest of more than 1,260 gang members and associates nationwide, including approximately 632 members of MS-13. Of all those arrested, a total of 276 have been charged with criminal violations while a total of 986 have been charged with administrative immigration violations.

# ICE #

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http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/050830newhaven.htm

SOUTH KOREAN NATIONAL WHO ILLEGALLY DIVERTED HELICOPTER ENGINES TO CHINA SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON
Former South Korean Military Official Also Prosecuted Overseas In Connection With Case

NEW HAVEN, CONN. -- Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that KWONHWAN PARK, also known as HOWARD PARK, age 36 and a citizen of South Korea, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven to 32 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. On November 9, 2004, PARK pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act, and conspiracy charges, in connection with his effort to obtain military engines for the Black Hawk helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, as well as other military items, and divert them to China. After completing his term of imprisonment, PARK is subject to deportation to South Korea.

Under U.S. law, any individual or entity seeking to export from the United States an item designated as a military defense article must receive permission from the U.S. Department of State. In the application, the applicant must attest to the ultimate destination of the item or part. Further, it is a requirement that any individual or entity seeking to export a military item must complete an application in which it is certified to whom the item will ultimately be sent.

As disclosed in court proceedings, for more than two years, PARK was the subject of an investigation being conducted by Special Agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), after he and his Malaysian company, SGS, attempted to purchase military helicopter engines from Helicopter Support International, a company affiliated with Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, Connecticut. Throughout 2001, PARK and others provided documents to the U.S. Department of State asserting that the engines, worth in excess of $1,000,000 each, were destined either for the Malaysian Army or the Korean Army. PARK and SGS went so far as to submit sworn end user certificates, with signatures from purported Malaysian and Korean military officials, which attested that the engines were for use by the Malaysian military and the Korean Army. Subsequent investigation by New Haven ICE agents, in the United States and abroad, confirmed that the signatures were fraudulent.

The investigation revealed that two helicopter engines were actually shipped on April 8, 2002, arrived in Malaysia, and then were diverted to China. At that point, ICE agents had not been alerted to the shipment.

As the investigation continued, PARK and his associates attempted to obtain four additional engines for the S70 Sikorsky military helicopter. Acting on a suspicion, General Electric, the manufacturer of the engines, notified agents in New Haven. According to statements made in open court today by the prosecutor, PARK attested that the four additional engines were destined for the South Korean Army. Previous investigation by ICE agents had already confirmed that the South Korean Army had never ordered the engines.

Earlier this year, ICE agents were alerted on short notice that PARK intended to enter the United States through San Francisco on March 27, 2004. ICE and DCIS agents tracked his movements and intercepted him on April 1, 2004, at Dulles International Airport when he attempted to depart the United States on a plane bound for Beijing, China. An inspection of PARK's luggage confirmed that he had in his checked bag and on his person a sophisticated night vision goggle system that was manufactured by a San Francisco, California corporation, and is a military item controlled for export. PARK was arrested based on a Complaint prepared and executed in the District of Connecticut. A United States Magistrate Judge in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered Park detained and removed to the District of Connecticut. PARK arrived in Connecticut on May 7, 2004, and has been detained without bond since that date.

"The Arms Control Export Act exists to prevent sensitive American military technology and weapons from ending up in the wrong hands," U.S. Attorney O'Connor stated. "With the assistance of Connecticut defense contractors, this Office and our federal law enforcement partners will be vigilant in investigating and vigorously prosecuting any individual or corporation that violates our nation's export laws."

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Special Agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Office of Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John A. Danaher III.

# ICE #

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