10 Iraqis detained in Jamaica were headed to Belize Are being interviewed by the U.S. F.B.I..

Belize Channel 5 News ^

[Dbdaily]

10 Iraqis detained in Jamaica were headed to Belize.

10 Iraqis detained in Jamaica were headed to Belize In news just in, the Associated Press is tonight reporting that ten Iraqi citizens have been detained in Montego Bay, Jamaica and are being interviewed by the U.S. F.B.I.. Their destination? Belize. Let me read the bulletin as we received it just minutes ago:

"F.B.I. agents on Tuesday were questioning ten Iraqi men who were detained at Montego Bay's airport, Jamaican police said, but did not say why they are being held. The police detained the ten men on Monday after reviewing airport passenger lists and discovering they all held Iraqi passports, police spokesman Lancelot Tyrell said Tuesday. The men had arrived on Sunday on a flight from Havana and had been scheduled to leave Monday night for Belize, he said.

A team of about twenty F.B.I. agents arrived in this north-coast tourist town Tuesday and began interrogating the suspects, who were being held at an undisclosed location, Tyrell said. No one has been charged with a crime. Under Jamaican law, police can hold suspects for up to a week without charging them. The men are being questioned. The police found nothing on them so far, but background checks are being done, Tyrell said. Police would not give any further information about the men, including what they were suspected of, or what their stated purpose was for being in the Caribbean. U.S. Embassy officials declined to comment Tuesday.

Last week, the United States went on high alert for possible terrorism after receiving what government officials called intelligence suggesting possible plans for attacks. Tensions have been high as the United States considers a possible was on Iraq.

Jamaican police are remaining tight-lipped about the status of ten Iraqis who are being held in Montego Bay. The men arrived in the resort town on Sunday and were in transit on route to Belize. They flew into Jamaica on a flight from Cuba before becoming stranded after their flight to Belize from Jamaica was cancelled. Initial reports are that the ten were slated to attend a wedding in Belize. On Monday F.B.I. agents arrived in Jamaica after they heard that the ten Iraqis had arrived in Montego Bay. Up to news time it could not be confirmed whether the F.B.I. had completed their investigations, and local police have yet to give and explanation for their decision to question the men."

And here's some more news just in on those ten Iraqis detained in Montego Bay. Sources have confirmed to News 5 that the Belize visas used by the Iraqis have been identified as forgeries. Investigations continue and reports from Jamaica indicate that the Jamaican visas held by the Iraqis are also forgeries. It is believed that these Iraqis, like many of their countrymen, are attempting to leave Iraq before a U.S. attack. Unconfirmed reports from Jamaican law enforcement officials indicate that the ten Iraqis were not involved in terror activities. We'll have more on tomorrow's newscast.

[GEC]

Please tell me that this allows us to get rid of Castro as well.

[Eva]

And Fox also reported earlier that the man who was arrested at the London airport was travelling on a Venezuelan passport. We learned from some of the Chavez threads that Chavez had been supplying Al Qaeda terrorists with false Venezuelan papers. Maybe there's a connection and maybe not.

[Uncle Miltie]

The Belize / Mexico border is very porous. If someone wanted to walk from Belize to the U.S., they could make it just fine.

[blackdog]

Maybe that's what Eric Rudolph did! He walked from under the watchful nose of our crack FBI and just walked all the way to Belize?

Why is our FBI involved in anything international? I thought that is the CIA's role. It's what they are trained for. The FBI is trained for domestic stuff like finding Eric Rudolph.

[Travis McGee]

Geographical interest bump.

[MindBender26]

Please tell me that this allows us to get rid of Castro as well.

Works for me. Why not get them all at once. How about a modification of the "Night of Sicilian Vespers" scene in Godfather I as Michael breaks the news to his about-to-be garroted traitorous brother-in-law.

Hey, listen up.

Bruno Tataglia is dead.
Vincent Tataglia is dead.
Mo Green is dead.
Fidel Castro is dead.
Saddam Hussein is dead.
Kim Jong Il is......

[wardaddy]

They just stopped by to cop a cheap buzz before heading out to kill innocents.....sort of like the origin of the word asassin in a roundabout way.

Throw them in Spanish Town Prison or Gun Court and let them rot for all I care.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I wonder how the Somalis in Maine are handling this cold weather!

[aCDNinUSA]

Here is the Toronto Sun Story

Thursday, February 13, 2003
Canuck pair in island arrest booted

By Ian Robertson

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Two Canadian passport holders detained by Jamaican police as suspects in an alleged smuggling ring of illegal aliens from the Middle East should be home by tomorrow night, sources told The Toronto Sun.

A deal was struck last night for the security chief of Air Canada to fly here either today or tomorrow to escort the two men back to Ontario, said a source close to the investigation.

The men will not face charges when they return, but officials hope they will provide information for the probe.

Commissioner Francis Forbes, of the Jamaican Constabulary Force, said the investigation is preliminary.

But a source close to the probe said 20 FBI agents arrived in Jamaica Monday, one day after officials at Sangster International Airport detained 10 adults and two children on an Air Jamaica flight from Havana, Cuba. The group insisted they were on a stopover en route to Belize.

ARAB HELP

But Jamaican authorities said they carried temporary visas of questionable origin.

Forbes said Arab interpreters are helping with the interrogation of what he called "high-risk" people, who are being held by police in Montego Bay.

A source said nine suspects were born in Iraq, including Mazin Odish, 26, and Ali Hussein Dalloul, 30, originally from the United Arab Emirates. Both carried Canadian passports issued in Windsor.

The source said RCMP and Canadian immigration officers contacted Jamaican police after the Canadian High Commission here was notified of the two men with Canadian passports being detained.

[Lion's Cub]

Thanks for the flag, piasa--new information ping.

[piasa]

Thanks, looks interesting

[Future Useless Eater]

• Iraq - - - - -> easy access to Cuba
• Cuba - - - - -> easy access to Jamaica
• Jamaica - - --> easy access to Belize
• Belize - - - -> easy access to Mexico
• Mexico - - - -> easy access to U.S.

If these guys AREN'T terrorists, then why is it so important to come here? And to visit with Fidel along the way! Sheesh! When will we ever close the borders to this human garbage?

[dcwusmc]

bump with curiosity

[Cindy]

NATIONAL POST.com: "POLICE SUSPECT CANADIANS IN IRAQI SMUGGLING" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Two Canadians suspected of trying to smuggle eight Iraqis into the United States were deported to Toronto on Friday after being held in Jamaica for four days. A Jamaican official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Ali Hussein Dalloul, 29, and Mazin Odish, 26, both of Windsor, Ont., may have been trying to smuggle the Iraqis into Canada or the United States via Cuba, Jamaica and Belize, using false travel documents. No one has been charged with a crime.") (February 17, 2003)

***An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding an CHANNEL5BELIZE.com article: "10 IRAQIS DETAINED IN JAMAICA WERE HEADED TO BELIZE" (CHANNEL5BELIZE.com ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Jamaican police are remaining tight-lipped about the status of ten Iraqis who are being held in Montego Bay. The men arrived in the resort town on Sunday and were in transit on route to Belize. They flew into Jamaica on a flight from Cuba before becoming stranded after their flight to Belize from Jamaica was cancelled.") (February 13, 2003)

GOOGLE.com (It's always interesting reading the Google search results.)

[Cindy]

BUMP TO POST NO. 32.