Possible Key Al-Qaida Suspect Arrested in Texas

[G4scott]

In my hometown of McAllen, of all places... I saw it on the local news first, but I didn't think it was that big of a find.

Developing...

Al-Qaida Suspect Arrested in Texas
Updated: Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2004 - 1:00 PM


By J.J. Green
FederalNewsRadio.com


A South African woman picked up in Texas almost 10 days ago may turn out to be a key, high-level al-Qaida operative.

Her name is Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. She was stopped at McAllen Miller International Airport on July 19 headed to New York.

Eddie Flores of the U.S. Border Patrol office in McAllen, Texas tells FederalNewsRadio.com that a review of her papers raised some concerns.

"In looking at her documents, they did not find any entry documents in her passport where she was legally admitted into the United States," says Flores.

Ahmed produced a South African passport to the agents with four pages torn out, and with no U.S. entry stamps. Ahmed reportedly later confessed to investigators that she entered the country illegally by crossing the Rio Grande River. Ahmed was carrying travel itineraries showing a July 8 flight from Johannesburg, South Africa to London. Six days later, Ahmed traveled from London to Mexico City before attempting to travel from McAllen to New York.

Government sources tell FederalNewsRadio.com that capturing this woman could be comparable to the arrest of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11. It was revealed in court Tuesday that she was on a watch list and had entered the U.S. possibly as many as 250 times.

Tuesday, the South African government issued a warning that Al-Qaida militants and other terrorists traveling through Europe had obtained South African passports, and authorities believe they got them from crime syndicates operating inside the government agency that issues the documents.

 

[MongoTheGeek]

In my hometown of McAllen, of all places... I saw it on the local news first, but I didn't think it was that big of a find.

Developing...

The big question is will she give up the plot and everyone else. Had we applied the screws to Zaccarias Moussaoi we might have stopped 9/11. If she was going to NYC the obvious target would be the Republican convention. Who knows what the method of attack would have been.

 

[Counterfit]

and had entered the U.S. possibly as many as 250 times.

I haven't even entered the US this many times

 

[KingSleaze]

I haven't even entered the US this many times

How many times have you left it? About 10 for me.

 

[meta-ghost]

seems to have disappeared from their website and been replaced with:


"Legend Grows Around 1,000-Pound Ga. Hog"

 

[QCassidy352]

I'm not seeing this reported on any major news site... because it's a bogus story, or because they just haven't picked it up yet.

 

[G4scott]

I'm not seeing this reported on any major news site... because it's a bogus story, or because they just haven't picked it up yet.

I don't know if they've confirmed whether or not she's actually a person of any significance in the terrorist scene...

Either way, if you cross the Rio Grande illegally from Mexico, you keep walking past the border patrol checkpoint in Falfurias, not hop on a plane to New York... She obviously planned to get into America so she could take a domestic flight to New York City, which is a high profile city. She wouldn't have gotten far on an international flight, because they screen those like nobody's business, but it makes one wonder how many people, or terrorists have done this: cross the border in a relatively easy place to cross, and hop on a domestic flight to a large city...

 

[2jaded2care]

Here's a different link to another, supposedly reputable news source:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/28/texas.border.arrest/index.html

If it turns out she has terrorist ties and crossed the border from Mexico, you can bet we won't be hearing the end of this.