Duh! Sorry, I always think of them as Mara-whatever. I will plug MS-13 into my memory bank.
ANKARA, Jan 2: Pakistan on Sunday extradited two Turks suspected of links to the Al Qaeda network who were immediately arrested and charged by Turkish authorities, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Mehmet Yilmaz and Mahmut Kaplan, who were arrested in Lahore in August, were brought before a court in Gaziantep, where they are wanted for "membership of a clandestine Islamist organisation", the news agency reported.
Pakistani authorities suspect Yilmaz of having fought alongside Afghanistan's Taliban regime. -AFP
Understandable. I think the longer name is used when referring to the broader group, but MS-13 is the Virginia franchise, starting out up in NoVA and working their way down here to the Norfolk area.
MARA SALVATRUCHA
http://www.knowgangs.com/gang_resources/ms/ms_001.htm
Michelle Malkin:
2004 was a bonanza for terrorists slipping into the U.S.
By MICHELLE MALKIN
(TODAY!)
LOOKS LIKE 2004 was a good year for terrorists, violent gang members, law-breakers and fraud artists seeking safe haven in America. Let's reminisce:
The rise of MS-13. The savage El Salvador-based gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), has now penetrated more than a dozen states. In May, a Fairfax, Va., teenager had his fingers chopped off in an MS-13 machete attack. In November, Washington, D.C.-area police received warning that MS-13 is plotting to ambush and kill them when they respond to service calls. Active in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, MS-13 members in America have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, carjackings, extortions and rapes. The gang has also been linked to efforts to help al-Qaida infiltrate the U.S.-Mexico border.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=49121