United States Homeland Security has issued a terror alert after Somali officials warned officials that a Somali terror organization may be smuggling members through the Mexican border into Texas.
Homeland Security warned Texas authorities Thursday that the Somalis in question are members of the al-Shabbab terror group, which is linked to al-Qaeda and responsible for many attacks in Somalia against civilians. U.S. and Somali intelligence sources believe that the organization may be trying to smuggle suspected members into the state, with possible sights set on a terror attack in Houston. Local police have been asked to be on the lookout for Somali terrorist Mohamed Ali, who was last suspected of being in Mexico.
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This news comes after new charges were added against in a federal court in San Antonio against 24-year-old Somali Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, on three accounts of immigration fraud. Dhakane was arrested in Brownsville, Texas, on the US Border. Court records claim that Dhakane has smuggled many Somalis across the border from a network headquartered in Braziland given fake ID's to many individuals who have been affiliated with the al-Shabbab, and Hizbul Islam terror organizations. Dhakane has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The indictment claims that Dhakane is a member of the al-Barakat financial transfer network, and Al-Ittihad al-Islami (Islamic Union), an organization that seeks to overthrow the Somali government and replace it with fundamentalist Islamic law.
Court records further claim that Dhakane lied to officials when he claimed a young girl with him was his wife. Not only was the girl not moarried to him, but documents claim that Dhakane threatened to kill the girl if she told U.S. officials that he had repeatedly raped her.
Somalia, located on the eastern Horn of Africa, has been a hotbed for terrorism and lawlessness and has frequently made headlines not just for its internal strife in its fight against Islamic terrorists, but for its infamous pirates, who have stolen ships in transit in the Indian Ocean and ransomed the vessels and their crews for money.
Omar Jamal, the first secretary for the Somali mission of the United Nations told the Houston Chronicle that his nation "is in constant battle with al-Shabaab" and to be careful not to persecute innocent Somalis who have fled their country in search of asylum. More than 240 Somalis sought asylum in the United States in 2009, more than any other group in that year.
Jamal said that many Somalis fled to Latin America seeking asylum from his country and many hope to make the trek north to better life in the United States.
“We don't want them to get caught in the middle of this war on terror,” he told the Chronicle.
While he agreed that the terror suspects be pursued “if they have a lead,” Jamal said that law enforcement authorities "need to be very careful and vigilant of those who are really innocent.
