Somali terrorist smuggling route through Mexico

Ryan Mauro:

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security warned Houston law enforcement that a Somali terrorist named Mohamed Ali could be in their area. Ali is a member of al-Shabaab, the terrorist group currently fighting for control of Somalia. Al-Shabaab has proven to be frighteningly effective at recruiting Westerners, including Americans.

Al-Shabaab has pledged its allegiance to al-Qaeda and should be seen as branch of the organization. It is reinforced with arms and recruits from Yemen and is al-Qaeda’s best hope to score a battlefield victory and resurrect the safe haven it treasured prior to October 2001. If al-Shabaab succeeds in taking Somalia, it will be the first time that al-Qaeda controlled its own country. This affiliate’s networks in the U.S., Canada, and Europe provide the group with the capacity to launch attacks on our soil. It likely only chooses not to do so because of the fear that it would compromise the organization’s presence.

The alert says that Ali is thought to have arrived via Mexico. He is likely part of a group of hundreds of Somalis that have snuck in through the open borders. This information needs to be inserted into the debate over border security that is now raging because of Arizona’s bill to combat illegal immigration.

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Two weeks ago, a Somali in San Antonio named Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane was indicted for leading a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” that brought in hundreds of people from Brazil, including “several AIAI-affiliated Somalis,” in reference to al-Ittihad al-Islami, a radical Islamic group that is tied to al-Qaeda. The government has not stated if Dhakane is connected to Tracy.

Tracy and/or Dhakane are likely connected to another batch of Somalis that were arrested in Mexico in January on their way to the United States. The Mexican authorities arrested them for illegally being in the country, but released them on January 21 after only 16 were identified. One of those was Mohamed Osman Noor, who is believed to be an al-Shabaab operative.

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Al-Shabaab’s reluctance to launch attacks on the United States shouldn’t be seen as an indication that the al-Qaeda affiliate is only concerned with Somalia. Al-Shabaab operatives have been involved in a terrorist plot in Australia and one tried to kill the Danish author of the infamous Mohammed cartoons. It has the West in its sights, and it must be seen as being no different than al-Qaeda.

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So far the Somali terrorist have operations in Texas, Virginia and Minnesota. They may also be operating elsewhere. There smuggling operation from Mexico is another reason why we need stronger border protection than the Obama administration is currently providing. It has to be another reason why states are looking at the Arizona solution to illegal immigration. When these guys do launch a terror attack the Democrats are going to be exposed.