[The possible links between Al Quaida/Muslims terrorists and S.Africa will be interesting to watch. S.Africa seems to feature mysteriously in this every now and then… Jan]

A South African woman has been arrested in the United States on immigration charges, but a Federal Bureau of Investigations official confirmed investigators were trying to determine whether she has ties to terrorist groups.

This comes as home affairs director-general Barry Gilder said he had come across a number of instances in which South African passports were found in the hands of al-Qaeda suspects, and after Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said “boxes and boxes” of the documents were discovered in London.

It also comes after the arrest of two South Africans – an Islamic scholar and a Johannesburg doctor – in Pakistan along with a suspected al-Qaeda ring after a marathon shootout with Pakistani police.

In the US, Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, 48, was arrested on July 19 while boarding a flight at McAllen airport, near the American-Mexican border, with an altered passport. She was charged four days later with illegal entry into the US and falsifying a passport. She was denied bail on Tuesday.

‘I did come here illegally, I came through the bush’
While officers are investigating whether the woman had links to terrorist groups, so far nothing has been substantiated.

Ahmed was arrested as she tried to board a flight for New York and couldn’t provide a visa. She provided a South African passport that was missing four pages. She said that her visa was in New York.

Authorities searched Ahmed’s bags and found a pair of wet and muddy pants and plane tickets and flight schedules. They said she later told them she was smuggled into the US from Mexico.

“I did come here illegally, I came through the bush,” Ahmed told FBI agents in a voluntary interview.

According to the flight itineraries, on July 8 Ahmed travelled from Johannesburg to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, and then to London. On July 14, she flew from London to Mexico City.

‘We do not want our country to be used either as a staging post or haven for terrorists’
Kyle Welch, Ahmed’s attorney, said his client is not charged with any terrorist activity and does not have a criminal record.

FBI agent Gary Simmons testified at Ahmed’s court hearing that she was carrying about $6 350 (about R40 000), along with British currency, a Krugerrand worth about $400 and Mexican pesos.

Regarding the falsification of South African passports, officials say they are working to counter the threat.

Gilder confirmed SA passports were found in the hands of al-Qaeda suspects, but he gave no specifics, and he described these as “isolated” cases. “We do not want our country to be used either as a staging post or haven for terrorists,” he said.

Home affairs officials say that crime syndicates are selling identity documents and passports for as little as R500. They sell mostly to economic migrants, who find it easier to enter Europe or the US on a South African passport. But terrorists now appear to be tapping into these networks, Gilder acknowledged.

What’s more, authorities believe they got the passports from crime syndicates inside home affairs.

The illicit acquisition of the passports sent shock waves through South Africa after Selebi said “boxes and boxes” of the documents were discovered in London.

He told the National Assembly’s safety and security committee that a number of people with “evil intentions against this country” were arrested here and sent home shortly before the April 14 elections. This prompted the arrests of suspected al-Qaeda members in Jordan, Syria and Britain. – Sapa-AP

This article was originally published on page 1 of Daily News on July 28, 2004

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>