August 18, 2004
By Michael Marizco
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A borderwide alert has been issued for a suspected al-Qaida member who U.S. investigators believe may try to cross the border through Arizona or Texas, officials said Tuesday.
Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 29, a Saudi, is suspected of being an al-Qaida cell leader and has been wanted by the United States since 2003. The latest information places him in Honduras with the intent of crossing the U.S.-Mexican border, said Art Werge, a spokesman for the FBI's El Paso office.
"We certainly don't want him crossing into the United States because his plan is to conduct terror operations," Werge said, describing El Shukrijumah as one of the more significant cell leaders not in custody. El Shukrijumah has not been charged in the United States with any crimes.
The FBI says El Shukrijumah speaks English and carries a Guyanese passport but might also try to enter the United States with a Saudi, Canadian or Trinidadian passport.
In March 2003, a U.S. District Court in Virginia issued a warrant to detain El Shukrijumah.
The alert was issued by the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, because of concerns El Shukrijumah will use popular smuggling routes from Mexico to enter the United States, said consulate spokeswoman Joanne Joria.
On Tuesday, the information was disseminated to the state of Sonora as concerns grew that El Shukrijumah could enter through Sonora and then Arizona. The consulate in Nogales, Sonora, received the information Tuesday, said Alberto Chapetti, a consulate official.
The alert prompted a statewide caution for Sonora from the National Migration Institute, Mexico's immigration enforcement agency.
The regional delegate for the Institute, Jorge Luis Mireles Navarro, was not available for comment but told Hermosillo newspaper El Imparcial that he had issued the statewide alert once the information was confirmed El Shukrijumah may try to cross through Sonora.
The institute also increased the number of checkpoints and identification searches throughout the state, said Bulmaro Pacheco, spokesman for Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours Castelo.
"The state's in the best possible position to collaborate with U.S. authorities and our own attorney general's office in this investigation," Pacheco said.
"With the kilometers we share with Arizona, the potential for a threat is there, but right now it's only a presumption, only a name. Whatever situation may arise, we'll be in contact with the United States," he said.
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