America isn’t the only place with porous visa controls.
An accused terror financier arrested in the US last week had only just returned from a trip to Australia where he is believed to have a child. In an embarrassing security blunder, the arrest took Australia’s intelligence agencies – who were unaware the suspect was in Australia – by surprise.
This from News.com.au, with thanks to Jean-Luc.
Omar Abdi Mohamed, 41, is under investigation after allegedly receiving $454,866 from a group accused by US authorities of direct links to al-Qaeda.
But Australian authorities were not told of any terrorist concerns surrounding Mr Mohamed before his most recent trip to Australia, which ended only last month.
“Obviously this person would not have been given a visa to visit Australia if the Government had been aware at the time of any links to terrorist organisations or activity,” Attorney-General Philip Ruddock’s spokesman Steve Ingram said.