Terrorists Getting Mexican Passports?
Friday, January 30, 2009 7:53 PM
By: Rick Pedraza

An Americas Report news investigation shows individuals posing a terror threat to the United States are increasingly obtaining access to stolen or doctored passports, which then can be used to obtain visas to enter the U.S. with the purpose of carrying out terrorist attacks.

The report notes several instances where this has already happened:

Four of the 19 hijackers from 9/11 carried genuine Saudi passports that had been "manipulated in a fraudulent manner" to obtain genuine U.S. visas.

In 2005, four individuals were charged with smuggling dozens of Iraqis and Jordanians into the U.S. through South America beginning in 2001 on stolen European passports.

In 2007, an NBC News investigation uncovered a black market for stolen passports in Latin America.

Last week, three Afghani Muslim men were caught carrying genuine stolen Mexican passports with their pictures and data while en route to Europe.

The report notes that Latin America, which now has a large Hezbollah presence, especially in Argentina, Venezuela, Paraguay and Brazil, is increasingly becoming the point of entry because documents are easily obtained.

In addition to those countries is Nicaragua, which has a large Iranian presence. Iran also has a huge embassy in Managua “where diplomats enjoy immunity and the full support of President Daniel Ortega,â€