The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

Threat of Mexican Drug Cartels Near Crisis Posted: 03 Mar 2009 09:08 PM PST Two of Mexico’s deadliest drug cartels have reached a combined force of 100,000 foot soldiers, wreaking havoc across the country and threatening U.S. border states, the U.S. Defense Department told The Washington Times. The cartels rival the Mexican army in size and have both Mexico and the U.S. in crisis mode as they deal with what they fear is a coming insurgency along the border. “It’s moving to crisis proportions,” an unidentified defense official told The Times. The official also said the cartels have reached a size where they are on par with Mexico’s army of 130,000. About 7,000 people have died in the last year — more than 1,000 in January alone — at the hands of Mexico’s increasingly violent drug cartels. Murders often involve beheadings or bodies dissolved in vats of acid. The two most dangerous cartels are the Sinaloa cartel, nicknamed the “Federation” or “Golden Triangle” by law enforcement agencies, and “Los Zetas” (the Gulf Cartel). They have been growing and are reportedly discussing a truce or merger to better withstand government forces, The Times reported. Mexico is now only behind Pakistan and Iran as a U.S. national security concern, coming in ahead of Afghanistan and Iraq, the defense official told The Times. Source Mexico Send In Military To Restore Order The Mexican government will deploy 1,000 more federal police officers as part of a wider effort to restore order in Ciudad Juarez, the nation’s most violent city, officials said Monday. Some of those uniformed federal officers began arriving in the border city Monday, two days after about 2,000 soldiers landed there in a related military buildup. Those soldiers were the first of an expected 5,000 additional troops who will be sent to help perform basic police functions. The military reinforcements will bring to more than 7,000 the number of soldiers in Ciudad Juarez. The nation’s public safety chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, said that along with the soldiers, he planned to dispatch the additional 1,000 federal police officers, Notimex news agency reported. About 425 federal officers already had been posted in Ciudad Juarez, where the death toll last year exceeded 1,600, the highest in a country racked by drug-related violence. Read Full Article This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Orange County Muslims say FBI Surveillance Upsetting Posted: 03 Mar 2009 08:45 PM PST The Islamic Center of Irvine is a beige stucco building that blends into the rows of office buildings surrounding it. But last week, it became the most publicized mosque in California with disclosures that the FBI sent an informant there to spy and collect evidence of jihadist rhetoric and other allegedly extremist acts by a Tustin man who attended prayers there. The revelations dismayed mosque members like Omar Turbi, 50, and his 27-year-old son who shares his name. After Friday prayer service last week, while hundreds of others scurried back to work, the pair stood with their backs to a wall and mulled over the news. “It gives you a little bit of apprehension about who you trust,” the elder Turbi said. “Makes you think twice about what you say; what if people misunderstand you?” Turbi’s fears were echoed by other Muslims throughout Southern California last week. Some say a climate of suspicion toward them, fueled by 9/11 and underscored by the latest disclosures of FBI surveillance, is inhibiting their freedoms of speech and faith. According to Muslim leaders, some people are avoiding mosques, preferring to pray at home. Others are reducing donations to avoid attracting government attention or paying in cash to avoid leaving records. And some mosques have asked speakers to refrain from political messages in their sermons, such as criticism of U.S. foreign policy, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim. “Some average Muslims interested only in praying are avoiding mosques for fear of somehow being monitored or profiled,” Ayloush said. “Everybody is afraid, and it is leading to an infringement of the free practice of our religion.” The latest anxiety wave was triggered by an FBI agent’s testimony last week that an informant was sent into several Orange County mosques and helped collect evidence against Ahmadullah Sais Niazi. The Afghanistan-born Niazi, 34, is scheduled for arraignment this month on charges of perjury, naturalization fraud and other acts related to lying about ties to Al Qaeda. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Washington D.C. Suburbs Fertile Ground For International Terrorist Financing Posted: 03 Mar 2009 08:34 PM PST Dr. Nagaratnam Ranjithan has spent decades building a thriving medical practice in Maryland as a kidney specialist. Federal authorities say he has also helped finance Asian death squads. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of Ranjithan’s Tamil Foundation, alleging that the money he has raised for Sri Lanka has actually gone to help the Tamil Tigers, a group that the State Department says is a terrorist organization. The Tigers have been blamed for thousands of civilian deaths. Ranjithan says his group is suffering from guilt by association. “Even the federal government hasn’t accused me of directly supporting the Tigers,” Ranjithan said in an interview with The Examiner. “They say that because I work in the Tiger area, I support the Tigers.” Case not isolated Ranjithan’s case isn’t an isolated one in the Washington suburbs. D.C. officials are working hard to crack down on what they dub international terrorist financing. They don’t have to look far, experts say. “It’s a very fertile ground for investigation,” said Joseph DiGenova, former U.S. attorney for the District. “There are plenty of opportunities.” With its large diplomatic community, multinational character, vast network of nongovernmental and charitable groups and employees, and big-hearted, big-walleted residents, the D.C. area gives excellent cover, resources and opportunities for international terrorist fronts, some experts say. “Washington fits the bill as a place where all kinds of information is exchanging hands. You have all sorts of nongovernmental organizations headquartered here … and all sorts of international groups are chartered here,” said Gary LaFree, director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland. Philanthropist imprisoned The government’s crackdown on terror financing has shown Washingtonians a new side of their neighbors. via http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/Experts-DC-fertile-ground-for-financing-of-terrorism-40578482.html.. This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Is Houston A Target For Terrorists? Posted: 03 Mar 2009 08:20 PM PST When al-Qaida first attacked the World Trade Center in 1993 a Palestinian who was part of the conspiracy— had just months earlier been living right here in Houston. Then in 2006, Federal agents arrested three men, Shiraz Qazi, Adnan Mirza, and Kobi Williams, in Houston. The case against the trio involved learning to use weapons here in order to join the Taliban overseas and fight U.S. soldiers. Two of the men, Mirza and Qazi, were Pakistanis with student visas. One of them reportedly lived in a west side apartment. The third man, Williams, worked part time at Rice University and lived near the Galleria and had been heard on a local Pakistani radio show according to the FBI. Then in 2007, Daniel Maldonado, a Muslim convert who’d lived at a complex off the Beltway, admitted to actually training with al-Qaida in Somalia. Records show that these men are the terrorists or would-be terrorists amongst us. The job for law enforcement has been to detect such people. But who does that best? The FBI or the CIA? How about HPD? Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey has a possible answer to that question. He’s been writing about terrorists for 20 years and is author of “Securing the City” book. In it, he focuses on NYPD but there are lessons for Houston, he said. “The police have always been a great entry level job for immigrants,” said Dickey. He said that the NYPD has had great success utilizing officers from immigrant families, officers with native language skills and street creed that he says can sometimes give them better intelligence-gathering abilities than the FBI or CIA. “People will trust you and will talk to you,” he said. He said that is also a critical factor in Houston. He said that working sources in diverse communities could pick up signs of terrorism. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

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