U.S. border authorities have arrested a controversial Muslim cleric who was deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago and was caught earlier this month trying to sneak into California inside the trunk of a BMW, according to court documents.
Said Jaziri, the former Imam of a Muslim congregation in Montreal, was hidden inside a car driven by a San Diego-area man who was pulled over by U.S. Border Patrol agents near an Indian casino east of San Diego. Jaziri allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling group $5,000 to get him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a “safe place anywhere in the U.S.”
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Back to you, DHS spokesman:
"At this time, DHS does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest border," a Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement.
There may not be "credible information" that terrorist groups are operating along the US-Mexico border, but full-fledged cells aren't the only threat. I seriously doubt this lone Imam was the first radical Islamist seeking to be smuggled into the US by Mexican coyotes. This time, the system worked (to borrow one of Janet Napolitano's favorite aphorisms). Next time? Who knows.
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