This Observer story on the Al-Qaeda suspect in Belfast reveals that jihadists may be entering Britain through Northern Ireland. .
Jaybe Ofrasio, who has been charged with raising money for Jemaa Islamiya, stands accused of being a senior lieutenant in the al-Qaeda-linked terror group. He and his family have denied they have any connections to the Islamist movement. . . .
The presence of an alleged Islamist terror activist in Northern Ireland has raised fears among the security services on both sides of the Irish border that the island is becoming a convenient ‘back door’ to the UK.
In Dublin, the Garda Siochana have kept several Islamic radicals under surveillance. A number of Algerian men have been questioned in connection with an investigation into al-Qaeda’s financing throughout Western Europe. In October 2002 two Libyans and one Algerian were arrested on charges of fundraising and providing fake passports to al-Qaeda.
Ofrasio was arrested at his house in Hawthorn Street, West Belfast, last Friday. He has been living there since moving from Mindanao in the southern Philippines last July.