Thread: Terror Alert:Terror suspect may be headed to TX through MX

HOUSTON -- A Homeland Security Alert is asking Houston police and Harris County Sheriff’s deputies to keep their eyes open for a potential terrorist.

The alert focuses on Mohamed Ali, a suspected member of the terrorist group Al Shabaab. It indicates he may be traveling to the U.S. through Mexico.

Al Shabaab is a terrorist group based in Somalia with links to the Somali attacks dramatized in the movie “Blackhawk Down.â€

Obama and Holder will change his name to Gomez and give him amnesty.

May 26, 10:10 PM EDT

Somali terror member may be heading to Texas

HOUSTON (AP) -- U.S. Homeland Security officials have asked Houston authorities to watch for a member of a Somalia-based terror group who may be coming to Texas through Mexico.

The federal department issued an alert last week for a suspected member of the al-Shabaab group, which has declared allegiance to al-Qaida.

Harris County Sheriff's spokeswoman Christina Garza said Wednesday she could not share details. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling says he "cannot discuss specific intelligence regarding individual groups."

The alert was issued after federal prosecutors in San Antonio added new charges earlier this month against a 24-year-old Somali man, Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, who had been picked up in Brownsville in 2008.

He pleaded not guilty May 14 in federal court in San Antonio to three counts of immigration fraud.

Garza confirmed a connection Wednesday between Dhakane's case and the Homeland Security alert but would not elaborate.

Dhakane is accused of making false statements under oath in support of his application for asylum.

According to the indictment, Dhakane failed to disclose that he was a member or associate of the al-Barakat financial transfer network and Al-Ittihad al-Islami, or the Islamic Union, which wants to impose Islamic law in Somalia. Both are on the Treasury Department's list of global terrorist groups with links to al-Qaida, according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges that Dhakane lied about his movements before entering the United States in March 2008, that he "participated in and later ran a large-scale smuggling enterprise out of Brazil" that smuggled hundreds of people, mostly East Africans, into the United States. Among those smuggled, according to the indictment, were several Somalis affiliated with Al-Ittihad al-Islami.

The indictment also alleges he lied when he told officials that a young girl was his wife, when she actually "was a smuggling client" of his whom he had never married and had "repeatedly raped and impregnated prior to coming to the United States." He threatened to have the girl murdered if U.S. officials learned of the rapes or that he was not her husband, according to the indictment.

A message was left late Wednesday with the federal public defender's office in San Antonio, which is representing Dhakane.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... SECTION=US

Related

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-200724.html

And of course the gov'ts response is "Nothing to see here folks... keep moving. Oh look at the cute bunny!"

UPDATED REPORT



Somali diplomat concerned about terror alert in Texas
by Associated Press

khou.com

Posted on May 27, 2010 at 1:54 PM

Updated today at 2:08 PM


HOUSTON -- A Somali diplomat said Thursday he’s concerned a member of a terrorist group from his country may be trying to get to Texas through Mexico but fears oppressed Somalis in Latin America trying to gain asylum in the U.S. will get caught up in a terror alert issued by American authorities.

U.S. Homeland Security has asked law enforcement in Houston to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the al-Shabaab group, an al-Qaida ally based in Somalia.

Omar Jamal, first secretary of the Somali mission at the United Nations, said his nation "is in a constant battle with al-Shabaab" and urged American authorities "to be careful who is bad and good in this new alarm."

The impoverished Horn of Africa nation is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has not had a functioning government since 1991. It also is home to pirates who have been seizing vessels for ransom in the Indian Ocean.

Jamal said his UN mission for months has been fielding inquiries from Somalis who believe missing loved ones throughout Central and South America are trying to flee to the United States.

"We don’t want them to get caught in the middle of this war on terror," he said.

He encouraged law enforcement authorities to pursue leads "if they have a lead."

"But they also need to be very careful and vigilant of those who are really innocent," he said.

Harris County Sheriff’s Department officials have confirmed the terror alert but refused to discuss specifics. A Houston Police Department spokesman said the department doesn’t publicly discuss such matters. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said they don’t discuss specific intelligence matters.

Jamal said he learned of the alert earlier this week.

"They’re trying to be extra cautious, but we didn’t think it was that much of a situation," he said. "We’ve been working with them on this issue for a very long time.

"It’s not the first time."

Raqiya Abdalla of the Fairfax, Va.-based Somali Family Care Network said her advocacy group has no official estimate of the number of Somalis in the U.S., but said a fair estimate would be 200,000.

The alert issued last week came after federal prosecutors added new charges earlier this month against a 24-year-old Somali man, Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, who had been picked up in Brownsville in 2008.

He pleaded not guilty May 14 in federal court in San Antonio to three counts of immigration fraud.

Without elaborating, authorities in Harris County, which includes Houston, have confirmed a connection between Dhakane’s case and the Homeland Security alert.

Dhakane is accused of making false statements under oath in support of his application for asylum.

According to his indictment, Dhakane failed to disclose that he was a member or associate of the al-Barakat financial transfer network and Al-Ittihad al-Islami, or the Islamic Union, which wants to impose Islamic law in Somalia. Both are on the Treasury Department’s list of global terrorist groups with links to al-Qaida, according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges that Dhakane lied about his movements before entering the United States in March 2008. It says he "participated in and later ran a large-scale smuggling enterprise out of Brazil" that smuggled hundreds of people, mostly East Africans, into the United States. Among those smuggled, according to the indictment, were several Somalis affiliated with Al-Ittihad al-Islami.

The indictment also alleges he lied when he told officials that a young girl was his wife, when she actually "was a smuggling client" of his whom he had never married and had "repeatedly raped and impregnated prior to coming to the United States." He threatened to have the girl murdered if U.S. officials learned of the rapes or that he was not her husband, according to the indictment.



http://www.khou.com/news/Somali-diploma ... 41974.html

Feds Warn Of Terrorists Sneaking Into U.S. Through Mexico

Last Updated: Fri, 05/28/2010 - 11:14am

The Department of Homeland Security has warned Texas law enforcement agencies that a renowned Al Qaeda terrorist is planning to sneak into the U.S. through Mexico, illustrating that Middle Eastern extremists continue to exploit the porous southern border in their quest to harm Americans.

While alarming, this case is hardly unique but rather part of a growing trend among Islamic terrorists to slip into the U.S. through a notoriously vulnerable 2,000-mile stretch. Mexican drug cartels and Middle Eastern extremists have for years joined forces to smuggle weapons and terrorists into the U.S., though the mainstream media coverage has largely ignored it to focus on the humble, poverty-stricken Mexicans who simply come to seek a better life.

A few years ago the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) revealed details of how Islamic terrorists and violent Mexican drug gangs have teamed up to successfully penetrate the U.S. as well as finance terror networks in the Middle East. Additionally, the top Homeland Security official in Texas confirmed that indeed terrorists—with ties to Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda—have been arrested crossing into the state through the Mexican border.

This proves that the U.S. government has known for years that terrorists are using Mexico as a pathway into the country. In this week’s alert, Homeland Security officials warn Houston authorities to be on the lookout for a member of a Somalia-based Al Qaeda group called Al Shabab who plans to cross the Mexican border. Evidently, he has ties to a Somali man in Texas who was recently indicted for operating a large-scale enterprise that smuggled hundreds of Somalis with terrorist ties from Brazil, through South America and across the Mexican border.

A separate case in Virginia illustrates that these sorts of illicit enterprises are on the rise. In that case a man with admitted ties to Al Shabaab is currently being prosecuted for running an international business that smuggled more than 200 Somalis across the Mexican border. The Somalis are believed to have been disbursed across the country and remain mostly at large, according to the national news report that broke the story.

www.judicialwatch.org