Eutrusca
30-12-2004, 16:20
A top al Qaeda lieutenant has met with leaders of a
violent Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico
and the United States — including a stronghold in the
Washington area — in an effort by the terrorist
network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico
border, law enforcement authorities said. Adnan G. El
Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the
U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was
spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El
Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which
immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of
Central and South Americans — mostly gang members —
into the United States. Although they are actively
involved in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, Mara
Salvatrucha members in America also have been tied to
numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings,
extortions, rapes and aggravated assaults — including
at least seven killings in Virginia and a machete
attack on a 16-year-old in Alexandria that severely
mutilated his hands. The Salvadoran gang, known to law
enforcement authorities as MS-13 because many members
identify themselves with tattoos of the number 13, is
thought to have established a major smuggling center
in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville,
Texas, from where it has arranged to bring illegal
aliens from countries other than Mexico into the
United States. Authorities said al Qaeda terrorists
hope to take advantage of a lack of detention space
within the Department of Homeland Security that has
forced immigration officials to release non-Mexican
illegal aliens back into the United States, rather
than return them to their home countries. Less than 15
percent of those released appear for immigration
hearings. Nearly 60,000 illegal aliens designated as
other-than-Mexican, or OTMs, were detained last year
along the U.S.-Mexico border. El Shukrijumah, born in
Saudi Arabia but thought to be a Yemen national, was
spotted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July, having
crossed the border illegally from Nicaragua after a
stay in Panama. U.S. authorities said al Qaeda
operatives have been in Tegucigalpa planning attacks
against British, Spanish and U.S. embassies. Known to
carry passports from Saudi Arabia, Trinidad, Guyana
and Canada, El Shukrijumah had sought meetings with
the Mara Salvatrucha gang leaders who control
alien-smuggling routes through Mexico and into the
United States. El Shukrijumah, 29, who authorities
said was in Canada last year looking for nuclear
material for a so-called "dirty bomb" and reportedly
has family members in Guyana, was named in a March
2003 material-witness arrest warrant by federal
prosecutors in Northern Virginia, where U.S. Attorney
Paul J. McNulty said he is sought in connection with
potential terrorist threats against the United States.
A former southern Florida resident and pilot thought
to have helped plan the September 11 attacks, El
Shukrijumah was among seven suspected al Qaeda
operatives identified in May by Attorney General John
Ashcroft as being involved in plans to strike new
targets in the United States. Citing "credible
intelligence from multiple sources," Mr. Ashcroft said
at the time that El Shukrijumah posed "a clear and
present danger to America." In August, an FBI alert
described him as "armed and dangerous" and a major
threat to homeland security. Earlier this month, Mr.
Ashcroft confirmed that U.S. border agents and
inspectors had ramped up efforts to find El
Shukrijumah amid reports that the al Qaeda leader was
thought to be seeking entry routes into the United
States along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mr. Ashcroft
noted that increased enforcement efforts were under
way in the wake of a rise of arrests of border jumpers
from Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan,
Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
Authorities said Mara Salvatrucha gang members moved
into the Los Angeles area in the 1980s and developed a
reputation for being organized and extremely violent.
The gang since has expanded into the Washington area,
including Virginia and Maryland, and into Oregon,
Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois,
Michigan, New York, Georgia and Florida. More than
3,000 Mara Salvatrucha gang members are thought to be
in the Washington area, with a major operation in
Northern Virginia. Other gang centers, authorities
said, include Montgomery and Prince George's counties
and the Hispanic neighborhoods of Washington. Mr.
McNulty, whose office has prosecuted Mara Salvatrucha
gang members, has described the organization as the
"gang of greatest interest" to law enforcement
authorities. He said gang members are recruited
predominantly from Hispanic communities and typically
among juveniles, some as young as 13. Recruits are
"jumped" into the gang by being beaten by members
while others count to 13, he said. Gang rules, he
said, are indoctrinated into new recruits and
ruthlessly enforced. Those who cooperate with law
enforcement are given the "green light," he said,
meaning that the gang had approved their killing. In
March, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office filed an
injunction against Mara Salvatrucha, charging that the
gang's criminal activity constituted a "public
nuisance" based on the number of killings, robberies
and drug crimes. The injunction requires gang members,
under public nuisance statutes, to follow curfew rules
and regulations and prohibits them from associating,
driving or appearing together in designated areas of
the city.
violent Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico
and the United States — including a stronghold in the
Washington area — in an effort by the terrorist
network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico
border, law enforcement authorities said. Adnan G. El
Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the
U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was
spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El
Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which
immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of
Central and South Americans — mostly gang members —
into the United States. Although they are actively
involved in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, Mara
Salvatrucha members in America also have been tied to
numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings,
extortions, rapes and aggravated assaults — including
at least seven killings in Virginia and a machete
attack on a 16-year-old in Alexandria that severely
mutilated his hands. The Salvadoran gang, known to law
enforcement authorities as MS-13 because many members
identify themselves with tattoos of the number 13, is
thought to have established a major smuggling center
in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville,
Texas, from where it has arranged to bring illegal
aliens from countries other than Mexico into the
United States. Authorities said al Qaeda terrorists
hope to take advantage of a lack of detention space
within the Department of Homeland Security that has
forced immigration officials to release non-Mexican
illegal aliens back into the United States, rather
than return them to their home countries. Less than 15
percent of those released appear for immigration
hearings. Nearly 60,000 illegal aliens designated as
other-than-Mexican, or OTMs, were detained last year
along the U.S.-Mexico border. El Shukrijumah, born in
Saudi Arabia but thought to be a Yemen national, was
spotted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July, having
crossed the border illegally from Nicaragua after a
stay in Panama. U.S. authorities said al Qaeda
operatives have been in Tegucigalpa planning attacks
against British, Spanish and U.S. embassies. Known to
carry passports from Saudi Arabia, Trinidad, Guyana
and Canada, El Shukrijumah had sought meetings with
the Mara Salvatrucha gang leaders who control
alien-smuggling routes through Mexico and into the
United States. El Shukrijumah, 29, who authorities
said was in Canada last year looking for nuclear
material for a so-called "dirty bomb" and reportedly
has family members in Guyana, was named in a March
2003 material-witness arrest warrant by federal
prosecutors in Northern Virginia, where U.S. Attorney
Paul J. McNulty said he is sought in connection with
potential terrorist threats against the United States.
A former southern Florida resident and pilot thought
to have helped plan the September 11 attacks, El
Shukrijumah was among seven suspected al Qaeda
operatives identified in May by Attorney General John
Ashcroft as being involved in plans to strike new
targets in the United States. Citing "credible
intelligence from multiple sources," Mr. Ashcroft said
at the time that El Shukrijumah posed "a clear and
present danger to America." In August, an FBI alert
described him as "armed and dangerous" and a major
threat to homeland security. Earlier this month, Mr.
Ashcroft confirmed that U.S. border agents and
inspectors had ramped up efforts to find El
Shukrijumah amid reports that the al Qaeda leader was
thought to be seeking entry routes into the United
States along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mr. Ashcroft
noted that increased enforcement efforts were under
way in the wake of a rise of arrests of border jumpers
from Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan,
Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
Authorities said Mara Salvatrucha gang members moved
into the Los Angeles area in the 1980s and developed a
reputation for being organized and extremely violent.
The gang since has expanded into the Washington area,
including Virginia and Maryland, and into Oregon,
Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois,
Michigan, New York, Georgia and Florida. More than
3,000 Mara Salvatrucha gang members are thought to be
in the Washington area, with a major operation in
Northern Virginia. Other gang centers, authorities
said, include Montgomery and Prince George's counties
and the Hispanic neighborhoods of Washington. Mr.
McNulty, whose office has prosecuted Mara Salvatrucha
gang members, has described the organization as the
"gang of greatest interest" to law enforcement
authorities. He said gang members are recruited
predominantly from Hispanic communities and typically
among juveniles, some as young as 13. Recruits are
"jumped" into the gang by being beaten by members
while others count to 13, he said. Gang rules, he
said, are indoctrinated into new recruits and
ruthlessly enforced. Those who cooperate with law
enforcement are given the "green light," he said,
meaning that the gang had approved their killing. In
March, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office filed an
injunction against Mara Salvatrucha, charging that the
gang's criminal activity constituted a "public
nuisance" based on the number of killings, robberies
and drug crimes. The injunction requires gang members,
under public nuisance statutes, to follow curfew rules
and regulations and prohibits them from associating,
driving or appearing together in designated areas of
the city.