Newly released documents from the State Department indicate the U.S. government has known Islamic extremists have been entering the country via Mexico for over ten years.
A cable obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act shows the U.S. was aware of “smuggling networks” that specialize in the trafficking of suspected Islamic extremists across the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2004 cable was sent to the State Department by the American Consulate in Juarez, Mexico.
Perhaps most alarming was the mention of a top Al Qaeda operative by the name of Adnan el Shukrijumah. The 2004 cable indicates the U.S. had human intelligence leading to his “exact whereabouts.” It was not until December of 2014 – ten years later – that Shukrijumah would be captured (or in this case, killed in Pakistan).
Shukrijumah was described by FBI as “a grave danger to the security of the United States” and had ties to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed as well as to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Among other acts domestic and abroad, he helped plot the 2009 foiled bombing of Oprah Winfrey’s Chicago studios and the Sears Tower.
Perhaps even worse, Shukrijumah had been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by way of his own aircraft. A report from Judicial Watch contained the following:
“Despite being one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists, Shukrijumah for years managed to slip in and out of the U.S. through the southern border to meet fellow militant Islamists—including Karakrah and Huerta—in the El Paso region, Judicial Watch’s law enforcement sources confirm. In fact, in March [2014] the most wanted terrorist piloted a private aircraft from Mexico into the airfield at Cielo Dorado in Anthony New Mexico, according to high-level government sources.”
Shukrijumah was also part of a sophisticated narco-terror ring with connections throughout the United States. The ring handled the logistics transporting Islamist operatives throughout the country and smuggled weapons and drugs for a cartel in Juarez, Mexico.
Why Shukrijumah wasn’t captured in 2004 is something that remains to be answered. Even though the entire file released by the State Department was declassified in September of 2014, large paragraphs have been removed throughout.
Obama administration officials including FBI Director James Comey have repeatedly denied that Islamists are operating in Mexican towns or that they are crossing the U.S. southern border. In April Comey described the claims as “nonsense.”
[Feature image: YouTube]
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
