X-PAC
08-03-2004, 08:15 AM
New York Post (http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/26046.htm)
August 2, 2004 -- The stunning new terror alerts emerge as federal investigators hunt for possible al Qaeda connections to a globe-hopping Pakistani woman who sneaked across the Rio Grande into Texas last month and was headed for New York.
Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, 48, is being held by U.S. marshals near the Mexican border while federal prosecutors prepare a case against her of illegal entry.
Ahmed was stopped July 19 in McAllen, Texas, while trying to board a flight at a small international airport near the Mexican border with an American Airlines ticket to JFK Airport.
Suspicious Border Patrol agents detained her when they noticed she had no visa — and six pages were torn out of her South African passport.
Ahmed was carrying about $7,000 in U.S. and foreign currencies, phone cards and a gambling card from an Atlantic City casino, as well as wet jeans and muddy shoes.
U.S. officials said she initially claimed she had left her visa in New York but under questioning confessed to crossing the Rio Grande to reach McAllen.
It was reported last month that illegal passports, selling for as little as $77 apiece, are available in South Africa — and some have turned up in the hands of al Qaeda members.
Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas), who represents the area where Ahmed was arrested, said Ahmed's name turned up on a terrorist watch list and that she was being investigated for possible terrorist connections.
This is just comical in a chilling sort of way.
August 2, 2004 -- The stunning new terror alerts emerge as federal investigators hunt for possible al Qaeda connections to a globe-hopping Pakistani woman who sneaked across the Rio Grande into Texas last month and was headed for New York.
Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, 48, is being held by U.S. marshals near the Mexican border while federal prosecutors prepare a case against her of illegal entry.
Ahmed was stopped July 19 in McAllen, Texas, while trying to board a flight at a small international airport near the Mexican border with an American Airlines ticket to JFK Airport.
Suspicious Border Patrol agents detained her when they noticed she had no visa — and six pages were torn out of her South African passport.
Ahmed was carrying about $7,000 in U.S. and foreign currencies, phone cards and a gambling card from an Atlantic City casino, as well as wet jeans and muddy shoes.
U.S. officials said she initially claimed she had left her visa in New York but under questioning confessed to crossing the Rio Grande to reach McAllen.
It was reported last month that illegal passports, selling for as little as $77 apiece, are available in South Africa — and some have turned up in the hands of al Qaeda members.
Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas), who represents the area where Ahmed was arrested, said Ahmed's name turned up on a terrorist watch list and that she was being investigated for possible terrorist connections.
This is just comical in a chilling sort of way.