Fake passport ring busted in Columbia

In spite of the claims from those who want you to think that Iraq ‘distracted us’ from the global war on terror (which they won’t admit includes Iraq) the fight against Al Qaeda continues on and today the AP is reporting that a fake passport ring connected to Al Qaeda and Hamas has been busted:

Colombian has dismantled a false passport ring with links to al-Qaida and Hamas militants, the acting attorney general said Thursday after authorities led dozens of simultaneous raids across five cities in collaboration with U.S. officials.

In Washington, however, Justice and Homeland Security officials were surprised by the announcement of the investigation, which they said involved people posing as members of Colombia’s largest rebel army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC β€” not al-Qaida or Hamas.

Colombian officials said the gang allegedly supplied an unknown number of citizens from Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and other countries with false passports and Colombian nationality without them ever setting foot in the country.

An undisclosed number of those arrested are wanted for working with the al-Qaida terror network and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, said acting Attorney General Jorge Armando Otalora.

The counterfeit Colombian, Spanish, Portugese and German passports were used to enter the United States and Europe, he said.

But Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Miami charges 10 foreign nationals with smuggling “people that they thought were members of FARC into the United States.”

“We are not alleging any connections to any terror organization other than the FARC,” said Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra.

…. he said with a ‘wink and a nod’ ;) This was a sting operation against Al Qaeda. Bank on it.

Hat tip to the Anchoresss.

Captain Ed’s take:

Three Iraqis traveled to Colombia in 2002, before our invasion, on Israeli passports supplied by al-Qaeda and Hamas. That sounds like a good indication of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, I would think. Does anyone wonder what their final destination was, or how they planned on getting there? And does anyone else find it interesting that Hamas and al-Qaeda launched joint operations to send people to the United States back in 2002, or even earlier than that, well before we invaded Iraq? This also tends to put the Hamas victory in the Palestinian Authority elections in a new light. If they’re teaming up with al-Qaeda on missions against the US, then we should treat them just the same as we do al-Qaeda, and wipe them out, regardless of their electoral status in the West Bank and Gaza.

I second that.

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