Colombia says al-Qaida sought fake passports
ISN SECURITY WATCH (27/01/06) - A fake passport ring supplying false travel documents to members of al-Qaida and Hamas has been broken up in Colombia, according to the country's attorney general.
In all, 19 people were arrested for forging documents for Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, and Pakistani citizens seeking to travel to the US and Europe.
"False documents were handed over to persons of Arab origin, who transited Europe with Colombian nationality," said Jorge Armando Otalora, Colombia's acting attorney general.
Otalora's office said the foreigners given the passports "were turned into Colombian citizens without ever coming to Colombia".
The Colombian government said it began its investigation in 2002 and among those arrested were two immigration officers. The smugglers were reportedly charging up to $20,000 per passport.
US authorities worked with their Colombian counterparts to track and detain the suspects and are reportedly seeking the extradition of 10 suspects to stand trial in the country.
However, US officials - those from the Justice and Homeland Security Departments -said there was no indication those receiving the fake passports had ties to Islamic extremism.
"We are not alleging any connections to any terror organization other than the FARC," said Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra. Instead, the department's indictment charges 10 suspects with smuggling people they thought "were members of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) into the United States".
The leftist FARC and Colombian government have been battling for more than 40 years. Both Bogota and Washington consider the armed rebel group a terror organization.
Marc Raimondi, national spokesman of the Department of Homeland Security's US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said there had been no previous indication FARC had developed ties with either extremist group.
"We don't have anything in the indictment alleging involvement of al-Qaida and Hamas," Raimondi told ISN Security Watch on Friday, though he noted that perhaps Colombian officials "have information we aren't aware of yet".
Some experts speculate that it's unlikely FARC has developed ties with the likes of al-Qaida and Hamas, noting the rebels typically keep a low profile in urban areas where Colombian authorities made their arrests.
Still, Colombia has developed a reputation for counterfeiting and document forgery, noted Adam Isacson, director of the Latin America Security Program at the Center for International Policy.
"If al-Qaida wanted fake passports Colombia would be on the shortlist," Isacson said in an interview with ISN Security Watch. "Falsification of passports is an ancient practice in Colombia."
He did note there has been some talk of fundraising for extremist Islamic groups including Hezbollah, in northern Colombia, where some cities boast large Arab communities. Arabs in neighboring Venezuela has also been suggested to be sympathetic to the extremist cause.
More notably, the infamous Tri-border region, where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet, has been under US observation for years. Its large Arab population is said to have donated significant funds over the years to al-Qaida and other groups.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time a Latin American country has been the suspected staging ground for extremists attempting to enter the US.
Earlier this month, a drug-trafficker awaiting sentencing in Texas for importing a quarter ton of cocaine from Mexico also bragged of a plot to smuggle 20 men he said were Iraqi terrorists into the US.
In December 2004, the drug smuggler, Noel Exinia, told associates in wiretapped and consensually recorded conversations that the 20 men were "gente de Osama" - Osama's guys - and that they were "really bad people," who were armed and made the smugglers working with them afraid, according to papers filed last week by US federal prosecutors with the federal court in Brownsville, Texas.
Investigators say they moved immediately at the suggestion of a terrorist nexus. "We jumped on that right away," a federal law enforcement official from one of the agencies involved in the case told ISN Security Watch.
But the investigation "did not develop that way", the official said, adding the men turned out not to terrorists.
"The goods were not as advertised."
(By Carmen Gentile, senior international correspondent)
In all, 19 people were arrested for forging documents for Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, and Pakistani citizens seeking to travel to the US and Europe.
"False documents were handed over to persons of Arab origin, who transited Europe with Colombian nationality," said Jorge Armando Otalora, Colombia's acting attorney general.
Otalora's office said the foreigners given the passports "were turned into Colombian citizens without ever coming to Colombia".
The Colombian government said it began its investigation in 2002 and among those arrested were two immigration officers. The smugglers were reportedly charging up to $20,000 per passport.
US authorities worked with their Colombian counterparts to track and detain the suspects and are reportedly seeking the extradition of 10 suspects to stand trial in the country.
However, US officials - those from the Justice and Homeland Security Departments -said there was no indication those receiving the fake passports had ties to Islamic extremism.
"We are not alleging any connections to any terror organization other than the FARC," said Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra. Instead, the department's indictment charges 10 suspects with smuggling people they thought "were members of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) into the United States".
The leftist FARC and Colombian government have been battling for more than 40 years. Both Bogota and Washington consider the armed rebel group a terror organization.
Marc Raimondi, national spokesman of the Department of Homeland Security's US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said there had been no previous indication FARC had developed ties with either extremist group.
"We don't have anything in the indictment alleging involvement of al-Qaida and Hamas," Raimondi told ISN Security Watch on Friday, though he noted that perhaps Colombian officials "have information we aren't aware of yet".
Some experts speculate that it's unlikely FARC has developed ties with the likes of al-Qaida and Hamas, noting the rebels typically keep a low profile in urban areas where Colombian authorities made their arrests.
Still, Colombia has developed a reputation for counterfeiting and document forgery, noted Adam Isacson, director of the Latin America Security Program at the Center for International Policy.
"If al-Qaida wanted fake passports Colombia would be on the shortlist," Isacson said in an interview with ISN Security Watch. "Falsification of passports is an ancient practice in Colombia."
He did note there has been some talk of fundraising for extremist Islamic groups including Hezbollah, in northern Colombia, where some cities boast large Arab communities. Arabs in neighboring Venezuela has also been suggested to be sympathetic to the extremist cause.
More notably, the infamous Tri-border region, where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet, has been under US observation for years. Its large Arab population is said to have donated significant funds over the years to al-Qaida and other groups.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time a Latin American country has been the suspected staging ground for extremists attempting to enter the US.
Earlier this month, a drug-trafficker awaiting sentencing in Texas for importing a quarter ton of cocaine from Mexico also bragged of a plot to smuggle 20 men he said were Iraqi terrorists into the US.
In December 2004, the drug smuggler, Noel Exinia, told associates in wiretapped and consensually recorded conversations that the 20 men were "gente de Osama" - Osama's guys - and that they were "really bad people," who were armed and made the smugglers working with them afraid, according to papers filed last week by US federal prosecutors with the federal court in Brownsville, Texas.
Investigators say they moved immediately at the suggestion of a terrorist nexus. "We jumped on that right away," a federal law enforcement official from one of the agencies involved in the case told ISN Security Watch.
But the investigation "did not develop that way", the official said, adding the men turned out not to terrorists.
"The goods were not as advertised."
(By Carmen Gentile, senior international correspondent)
posted by Marko at 1/27/2006 04:38:00 PM
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