Report: Al Qaeda Members Caught Using Colombian Passports to Enter U.S.
Three Syrian nationals with alleged ties to an al-Qaeda cell in Dallas, reportedly used Colombian passports to slip through the southern border into Texas.
According to a Colombian news agency, the men appear to have entered Colombia through Venezuela, where they acquired residency paperwork, a government ID card, and a Colombian passport.
“Apparently they are members of al-Qaeda. They were on the watch list the FBI has. So they have been arrested in Dallas or somewhere else, and will probably be charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization,” says Dr. Jeff Addicott, director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.
“Someone had to supply them with these passports, either in Colombia or the Venezuela system, money had to exchange hands,” he says. “Their facing a maximum 20 years in a federal penitentiary, so perhaps we can use that as leverage to get them to talk.”
Addicott says their tie to Venezuela is a new twist -- but not surprising.
“Venezuela for a very long time has had a close relationship with Iran, which is a state sponsor of terrorism,” he says. “We know that Nicolas Maduro himself, when he worked under Hugo Chavez, traveled to the Middle East and met with many of these individuals who are very suspect in the Iranian regime.”