Terror suspect with TT passport

THE Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in Washington DC yesterday issued a world wide terror alert for a Saudi Arabian, believed to be in possession of a Trinidad and Tobago passport.

The FBI believe Adnan G El Shukrijumah is plotting terrorist attacks as part of al Qaeda, the terrorist group linked to the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC on September 11, 2001. The FBI is asking for help from law enforcement officials worldwide, including Trinidad and Tobago, in locating El Shukrijumah, who officials say may have been last seen in Miami before he disappeared. His current whereabouts are unknown. Preliminary investigations by intelligent officials show that El Shukrijumah may have travelled to Piarco International Airport and Timehri International Airport in Guyana in the recent past “to cool off” after he may have been suspected by US Marshals.

His last known address was 6124 SW 27th Street, Miramar, Florida. His date of birth was given as August 4, 1975 and he stands at five feet six inches tall. He was issued a driver’s permit on December 12, 1997 with the State of Florida — Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Stunned TT nationals looked on in amazement at the breaking news on CNN yesterday linking the Saudi national to Trinidad and Tobago. Police and immigration officials in Port-of-Spain were in the dark last night about this revelation, saying this was new to them. But the police, through Interpol, plan to step up the hunt locally for the Saudi national. Immigration officials plan to check their files today to see if anyone with a resemblance to the Saudi slipped into TT, or passed through in recent months.

Florida seems to be a main city for terrorist suspects after some of those involved in September 11 were training as pilots there. Two TT nationals have been jailed in Florida in the last two years having been somewhat linked to terror activities. Keith Glaude was sentenced to two years in Fort Lauderdale in late 2001 after pleading guilty to attempting to export guns to a member of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen in Trinidad. Although he pleaded guilty, he admitted he was set up by a friend. The second Trini was Shueyb Jokhan, formerly of St Joseph, who was jailed for four years in 2002 after he and a Pakistani plotted to blow up federal installations in Florida prior to the September 11 attacks.

According to the FBI, El Shukrijumah, although born in Saudi Arabia, carries a Guyana passport and could attempt to enter the United  States with a Saudi, Canadian, or Trinidad passport as well. He  has also gone by a half-dozen aliases. These aliases include Adman G El Shukri Jumah, Abu Arif, Ja’far Al-Tayer, Jaffar Al-Tayyar, Jafar Tayar and Jaafar Al-Tayyar. The FBI alert did not specify the nature of the threats El  Shukrijumah may pose to United States’ interests. One FBI official said El Shukrijumah only recently came to the agency’s attention, but the  official did not say how. The alert came as the FBI intensified its effort to interview thousands of Iraqi-born individuals living in the United States to uncover any potential terrorist attacks planned by Iraqi operatives or sympathisers and to protect them from any hate crimes.