http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impr ... abla=miami

Nations ironing out terror plan details

EL UNIVERSAL and wire services
June 23, 2005

On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza met with Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal to hammer out details on an agreement known as the North American Alliance for Security and Prosperity that would boost coordination of antiterror and organized crime efforts.

The plan, which also deals with economic issues such as North American nations' competitiveness in the international market, will then be presented to Canadian officials next Monday in Ottawa.

Under the agreement, intelligence agencies will work more closely in sharing information on terrorism and organized crime. It also proposes standardizing customs in all three countries, so that goods arriving from abroad can be transported freely across the continent after being inspected at the port of entry in the Mexico, Canada or the United States.

Additionally, responses to possible bio-terrorism attack and public health crises such as infectious diseases would be coordinated, and restraints on financial transfers and services across borders would be eased.

The agreement was agreed to in principle by the leaders of all three nations at George W. Bush's ranch in Texas in March.

Mexico's heightened sensitivity to possible terrorist excursions on its soil was on display this week when federal prosecutors arrested and subsequently released a man mistakenly identified as a terror suspect.

Authorities on Wednesday cleared a Lebanese-born, British citizen of wrongdoing, after authorities arrested him because of suspected links to Sept. 11 terror groups.

Amer Haykel was detained in the western state of Baja California Sur on Monday, because U.S. authorities provided information that he was linked to extremist groups believed to be involved with terrorist attacks.

But in a statement released late Wednesday night, the National Immigration Institute said it had confirmed that Haykel "doesn't represent any threat to national security, nor is wanted by authorities in any country."

The statement said officials ended Haykel's detention, but whether or not he had actually been freed was not immediately clear, and authorities could not provide more details.

The immigration communique said Haykel was detained based on "an exchange of information with U.S. authorities" and "in the context of a strategy of border security between Mexico and the United States, based on the minimization of risks for national security of both countries." It went on to say, however, that he posed no threat to either country.

Before his arrest, Haykel spent several days in the tourist resort of Cabo San Lucas, sleeping in a local fire station, according to those who met him. He told acquaintances he was a pilot who was wandering the world on a tight budget.

Officials have long expressed concerns that terrorists might use Mexico or Central America to stage an attack on the United States.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, there have been a series of arrests and reports from Panama to the Mexico-U.S. border indicating that terrorists might be in the region. But so far, there has been little hard evidence that anyone was linked to al-Qaida or other terrorist groups.

Last week, Pakistani Arif Ali Durrani, 55, was arrested in the beach resort of Rosarito, across the border from San Diego.

A former U.S. resident, Durrani was handed over to U.S. officials, who charged him with illegally exporting parts used to cool fighter jet engines. Durrani has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and faces a trial in August.

Durrani served five years in prison for selling missile parts to Iran in the 1980s.

In July, a South African woman was arrested in Texas after she swam across the Rio Grande from Mexico. The arrest of Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, 49, led to speculation of terrorist activities at the border, but officials found no evidence she was linked to terror groups.

She was convicted of illegal entry into the United States, making false statements to federal authorities and misuse of an altered South African passport. Authorities deported her in March.

Central American officials have also reported several alleged terrorist sightings or concerns including the theory that terrorists were recruiting from the region's violent gangs.

But the U.S. government has backed only one report: An alleged top al-Qaida operative, Adnan El Shukrijumah of Saudi Arabia, spent 10 days in Panama in April 2001.

AP reporter Ignacio Martinez and EL UNIVERSAL reporter Juan Arvizu Arrioja contributed to this report.