Border alert for terror suspect outdated, FBI says
Adnan G. El Shukrijumah has been wanted by the United States since 2003.
Dennis Wagner
Arizona Republic
Aug. 18, 2004 01:00 PM
An FBI spokeswoman in Arizona said news reports that a notorious terrorism suspect may be planning to cross the Mexican border into the United States are overblown and outdated.
Several publications reported Wednesday on an FBI alert about Adnan El Shukrijumah, thought to be an al-Qaida cell leader.
But special agent Susan Herskovits said the story is based on speculation stemming from old and unverified intelligence.
Months ago, Herskovits said, investigators received an unconfirmed report that Shukrijumah had been sighted in Honduras. Based on that information - and the fear that he might try to enter the United States to carry out a terrorist attack - there was speculation that he could mingle with Hispanic immigrants crossing the Arizona or Texas border.
So the FBI, which has spread a wide net in the hunt for Shukrijumah, issued a bulletin to law enforcement officials along the Mexican border.
"It's not new,'' Herskovits said Wednesday. "We've had three 'be-on-the-lookouts' alerts for this guy (since March){ellipsis} And it's not like the sighting in Honduras was even verified.''
Shukrijumah, described as a pilot and bombmaker, was among several suspected al Qaida figures who met in Pakistan during March, according to Los Angeles Times and other publications. Pakistani officials said that meeting also was attended by Osama bin Laden lieutenant Abu Eisa al Hindi, and communications engineer Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, whose computer discs allegedly contained surveillance reports for a planned attack on buildings in the United States and Britain.
Attorney General John Ashcroft recently singled out Shukrijumah as one of seven especially dangerous international terror figures wanted by the government. A $5 million reward has been issued for information leading to his capture.
Shukrijumah, a 29-year-old Arab-American who suffers from asthma, reportedly was born in Guyana, raised in south Florida and speaks fluent English. The son of a radical Muslim cleric who recently died in Florida, he also is known by several aliases and nicknames, including "Jaffar the Pilot.''
Newsweek magazine said authorities have been hunting Shukrijumah since al Qaida's attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. With no solid leads, counter-terrorism agents began trying to smoke him out with publicity.
Besides the alert along Mexico's border, FBI agents have warned that he might attempt to enter the United States via Canada, or might return to Florida. They also asked officials in Guyana to help locate him.
A Spanish-language bulletin issued months ago says he may use a passport from Saudi Arabia, Canada or Trinidad.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0818borderalert-ON.html
Pakistan seeks public help to capture top al-Qaida operative, 5 others
Associated Press
Aug. 18, 2004 07:15 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan published photos Wednesday of six terror suspects, including a top al-Qaida operative accused of masterminding two attempts to assassinate the president, and offered large rewards for information leading to their arrests.
The advertisement published in the country's leading newspapers carried a photograph of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a Libyan accused by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of being behind two failed attempts on his life.
Musharraf escaped unhurt in both attacks in December, when terrorists tried to blow up his motorcade on a road near the capital, Islamabad. The first attack did not injure anybody, but 17 people died in the second attack.
Since then, Pakistani police and security agencies have been looking for al-Libbi and other suspects believed responsible for the two attacks.
On Wednesday, Pakistan offered a reward of $345,000 each for information leading to the arrest of al-Libbi, believed to be a top al-Qaida operative, and Amjad Hussain, who is best known as Amjad Farooqi, a Pakistani militant who also allegedly played key role in the two attacks.
Four other suspects whose photos were published in the newspapers were Mati-ur-Rahman, Qari Ehsan, Omar Aqdas and a man identified as Mansoor with an alias Chota Ibrahim. It was not immediately clear why those four were being sought and differing rewards were offered for their arrests.
The advertisement gave no details about the nature of charges, saying only that the men are "most wanted terrorists" and "wanted for acts of terrorism."
The latest government move came a day after the father of an alleged al-Qaida computer expert filed a lawsuit challenging what he called the illegal detention of his son, who was captured last month.
Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan was captured by Pakistani intelligence agents July 13 in the eastern city of Lahore, and a search of his computers uncovered surveillance documents of five financial institutions in the United States, prompting a terror alert in three U.S. cities.
Later, Khan led police to a hide-out of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian al-Qaida wanted for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in east Africa. Ghailani was captured July 25 after a 12-hour shootout in eastern industrial city of Gujrat.
Babar Awan, a defense lawyer, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Khan's father has filed a lawsuit in a court at Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad, "against illegal detention of his son."
"Whatever the allegation against the boy may be, he has a right to be defended through a counsel of his own choice," Awan said.
He said Khan's family had learned about his detention only through the media.
"We don't know why and where he (Khan) is being held."
Awan said the court has yet to act on the petition of Khan's father, a flight attendant with Pakistan International Airlines.
Under Pakistani laws, such lawsuits are usually admitted for hearing, and the government is asked to explain reasons for holding any particular suspect. A law also gives the government the right to detain any terror suspect for up to one year
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0818PakistanAlQaida18-ON.html
The Feds have been issuing nearly biannual warnings or BOLOs on him since shortly after 9/11 it seems. If there is indeed a new warning it would seem to bolster the belief that he is headed to or in the US at this time.
One thing for sure, he was WMD written all over him. He is not someone we want on the loose.