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Authorities in Honduras have detained “five Syrian nationals who were trying to reach the United States using stolen Greek passports” and, as Fox reports, the five “Syrians were trying to arrive in the U.S. by land, presumably by traveling through Mexico:”
The group of Syrian men was held late on Tuesday in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on arrival from Costa Rica and they were planning to head to the border with neighboring Guatemala. The passports had been doctored to replace the photographs with those of the Syrians, police said.
Also according to Fox, the five “suspects remain in police custody.”
The newspaper reports that the passports were stolen in Greece and doctored to insert the photos of the Syrians into the document. Authorities have stated they are “on alert” for any additional suspect activity.
Honduran police spokesman Anibal Baca told reporters Wednesday that those arrested were “normal Syrians”:
We received information from (fellow) police services that these five Syrians left Greece and passed through Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and San Jose in Costa Rica before finally reaching Tegucigalpa.
Honduras is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees as of 1967, which mandates the nation by international law to accept Syrian refugees. It is one of 142 countries to have ratified the agreement.
Photos have also surfaced in South American media of the Syrians under arrest.
As a Central American nation, Honduras is a significantly trafficked route for migrants attempting to make their way to the United States. Honduran officials have previously blamed the Obama administration’s “mixed messages” regarding illegal immigrants for encouraging human trafficking in Central and South America, as more are likely to attempt the dangerous trip north if given hope that they may be given legal status upon arriving in the United States.
Turkey: 8 suspected Isis terrorists trying to enter Germany as refugees arrested
Turkey has arrested 8 suspected Islamic State (Isis) militants at Islanbul's Ataturk Airport after investigations revealed that the suspects were planning to enter Germany posing as refugees.
According to state-run Anadolu Agency, the eight men claimed that they had come on a visit to Istanbul from Casablanca (Morocco) as "tourists." The police, however, were suspicious of the group and asked them where they were staying.
The police later found that the eight men were lying about their accommodation and, in fact, had made no reservations in any hotels.
From the Isis suspects, the police found a map and detailed handwritten note on how to reach Germany.
The group reportedly was planning to travel through Turkey's Aegean Izmir district to Germany, via Greece, Serbia and Hungary. Their plan was to enter Germany posing as refugees, the police said.
The Islamic State terrorist group has a high number of fighters from Morocco and, since the Paris attacks, travel advisories from various countries have put Morocco to be a high-risk place.
Just two days back, the authorities in the country announced that they had arrested four Isis members in Beni Mellal, about 182 km south-east of Casablanca who "were at advanced stages of preparation of terrorist attacks in Morocco."
originally posted by: muse7it's not as easy as we keep hearing for terrorists to get past the vetting and background checks done by DHS
originally posted by: eluryh22
originally posted by: muse7it's not as easy as we keep hearing for terrorists to get past the vetting and background checks done by DHS
This is an absurd claim to make, in my opinion.
It's like saying that if the TSA catches one person trying to smuggle something on board an airplane, that must mean it is close to impossible to slip something past them. However, as shown HERE, three out of four times (75% of the time) the TSA fails at the task of screening.
So... I see your 5 (potential) terrorists and raise you 15.
Further, and I don't know you at all so I don't know your politics, but in the event that you are right about the "bad guys" using the Southern border to gain access.... would you be for finally closing the damn thing?
That may very well be a sort of mis-information. However, this isn't the first time I've read about "test runs" like this and I'm sure it wont be the last.
originally posted by: Rosinitiate
originally posted by: eluryh22
originally posted by: muse7it's not as easy as we keep hearing for terrorists to get past the vetting and background checks done by DHS
This is an absurd claim to make, in my opinion.
It's like saying that if the TSA catches one person trying to smuggle something on board an airplane, that must mean it is close to impossible to slip something past them. However, as shown HERE, three out of four times (75% of the time) the TSA fails at the task of screening.
So... I see your 5 (potential) terrorists and raise you 15.
Further, and I don't know you at all so I don't know your politics, but in the event that you are right about the "bad guys" using the Southern border to gain access.... would you be for finally closing the damn thing?
That's propaganda too, and yes I've read the article. You'd be surprised just how sophisticated TSA security is to a level I've actually never seen reported before but have been told by someone who would know.
originally posted by: Gryphon66
These 10-15 Syrians with fake Greek passports ... any evidence linking them to ISIS/ISIL/IS?
The CNN article (the only source not linked to a propaganda site) states that none of the arrests have links to terrorism.
"These citizens will be taken away and will be investigated. We already have confirmation that they had passports that were stolen in Greece," said Aníbal Baca, a spokesman for Honduras' Police Investigation Unit.
Greek authorities and Interpol were involved in Honduras detaining the men, Baca said. Before the men had arrived, they had traveled to Lebanon, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica, he said.
Baca didn't specify why authorities had been tracking the men.
originally posted by: MagesticEsoteric
a reply to: IAMTAT
After 9/11, I vividly recall wondering why the US government was spending an enormous amount of money to protect this country from terrorists when they wouldn't even protect our southern borders.
Made no sense to me at all.
Seems like just about anyone can get in this country if they come in through those borders.
SMDH
How are Syrian refugees referred to the U.S.?
The process begins with a referral from UNHCR. The U.N.’s refugee agency is responsible for registering some 15 million asylum seekers around the world, and providing aid and assistance until they are resettled abroad or (more likely) returned home once conditions ease. The registration process includes in-depth refugee interviews, home country reference checks and biological screening such as iris scans. Military combatants are weeded out.
Among those who pass background checks, a small percentage are referred for overseas resettlement based on criteria designed to determine the most vulnerable cases. This group may include survivors of torture, victims of sexual violence, targets of political persecution, the medically needy, families with multiple children and a female head of household.
What happens once a refugee is referred to the U.S.?
Our government performs its own intensive screening, a process that includes consultation from nine different government agencies. They meet weekly to review a refugee’s case file and, if appropriate, determine where in the U.S. the individual should be placed. When choosing where to place a refugee, officials consider factors such as existing family in the U.S., employment possibilities and special factors like access to needed medical treatment.
How do we know the refugees aren’t terrorists?
Every refugee goes through an intensive vetting process, but the precautions are increased for Syrians. Multiple law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies perform “the most rigorous screening of any traveler to the U.S.,” says a senior administration official. Among the agencies involved are the State Department, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. A DHS officer conducts in-person interviews with every applicant. Biometric information such as fingerprints are collected and matched against criminal databases. Biographical information such as past visa applications are scrutinized to ensure the applicant’s story coheres.