Central American terrorists – what's going on?
Questions remain over Honduras sightings of
'next Mohammed Atta'
By Sherrie Gossett, WorldNetDaily.com
In a rapidly growing story, Honduran officials report that one of the
top terrorist suspects in the world, Adnan G. Shukrijumah, was spotted
in Honduras recently.
Readers might want to reserve judgment, however, taking the reports with
a grain of warm Honduran sand, since contradictions have become
apparent. It's unclear whether the problematic elements to the story
stem from inaccurate statements made by government officials, from
inaccurate reporting of those statements, from a lack of forthcoming
detail, from poor communications between international allies or a
combination of these.
|
|
|

Adnan El Shukrijumah
|
Here are some points to consider:
- The date: According to Leonel Sauceda, spokesman for
the Honduran Security Ministry and another official with the
ministry who spoke with WND today, the suspect was seen on May 27
at an Internet café in Tegulcigalpa.
Hours after WND and the Miami Herald reported the date, the
Associated Press reported that the date was not known, that
Security Minister Oscar Alvarez declined to state the date "on
security grounds" when being interviewed, leaving the
interpretation open that he could have been referring to a more
recent sighting.
- The timing: The question of why contradictory
information is emanating from the same government agency (if that
information was accurately reported) leads to the next question of
why the information is just now being released, more than a month
after the alleged sighting occurred.
- The escape: In addition, Alvarez told the Associated
Press that the suspect fled after being sighted. "This man was
seen at an Internet business in Tegucigalpa, and then he fled the
country,'' Alvarez said, referring to Honduras' capital city.
It's unclear how the Honduras government knows the suspect fled
the country since they never were able to locate or apprehend the
suspect in the first place.
- The alert: If the suspect fled Honduras over a month
ago, why have Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama just now been put
on alert by Honduras that the suspect may be trying to enter one
of those countries?
- The previous stop: While the Associated Press reported
that "El Shukrijumah … apparently entered Honduras illegally from
Nicaragua or Panama," the Honduran Security Ministry told WND it
was not known how or when the suspect entered the country. It's
unclear, therefore, how it is known where the suspect was prior to
arriving in Honduras. Before the Honduran sighting news, the
suspect had last been seen in Guyana. It's also unclear why the
suspect is thought to have entered from Nicaragua (a neighbor) or
Panama (not on the border of Honduras). If the suspect arrived by
sea, it's unclear why arrival from Costa Rica, Cuba, Belize or
elsewhere is not thought possible, or by land from El Salvador or
Guatemala.
- Late alert or late arrival? The AP reported that
Alvarez implied the Honduran government received news of the man's
sighting after it was too late to catch him. WND was told by the
Security Ministry that police arrived at the Internet café after
the suspect had left.
- Who said what?: This news follows a tangle of
misreporting yesterday about an alleged plot to bomb the Panama
Canal. Agence France-Presse published a story saying Leonel
Sauceda, spokesman for the Honduran Security Ministry, had
confirmed comments Security Minster Oscar Alvarez allegedly made
to the Honduran press about the plot. Sauceda allegedly confirmed
to AFP that Alvarez said Shukrijumah had been involved in a plot
to use explosives to damage the Panama Canal. The AFP story was
then picked up by Bloomberg News. But the bombing story was false.
There are indications also that some journalists may have started
off on the wrong foot by mistranslating some details that were in
the Honduran press.
- What bomb plot?: After WND reported that neither FBI
headquarters nor the U.S. Embassy in Panama nor the FBI legal
attache in Panama knew anything about the allegations, and could
not therefore confirm them, the Security Ministry told WND that
Alvarez never made the comments, but simply referred to the May 27
sighting of the terrorist. The headline story in Panama today was
that there was no bomb plot.
- What alert? What sighting?: While the FBI today said it
had no further comment on Shukrijumah's case or the Central
American alert – adding, "We're going to let what's already out
there in the media stand" – Joe Reap, spokesman for the U.S. State
Department Office of Counterterrorism told WND he had not heard of
the sighting or the Central American alert. Ditto for another
State Department official. So far, the information is being
confirmed solely by Central American government sources, and U.S.
Embassy officials are simply confirming that they've been told the
same thing by those governments.
The U.S. Embassy in Panama told WND they are awaiting guidance
from the State Department – the same State Department that
apparently knows nothing about the situation.
So, stay tuned for more details. Oscar Alvarez, security minster for
Honduras, has been in meetings all day with the president and
various cabinet members. WND is expecting a call from him this
evening.
|