www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, February 21, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Anti terrorism police from the UK are in Venezuelan to investigate the man they arrested in London Gatwick Airport for carrying a live hand grenade in his luggage after flying into London on a British Airways flight from Caracas.

The 37-year-old man, Mohammed Rahaham Alan is believed to have been traveling on false Venezuelan documents, as a government official said this week that both the man's passport and identity cards were forged. 

The address at which Rahaham claims he lived in Venezuela has been visited, and a family of the same name do live there ... but the house has been unoccupied for over a month, according to neighbors.

The man appeared in court in London earlier this week where he was charged was possessing an article with the intention of committing a terrorist act. 

www.heraldtribune.com The Associated Press

A Venezuelan diplomat accused in a $100 million lawsuit of helping direct money to Osama bin Laden after the terrorist attacks has asked the FBI to investigate the former presidential pilot who made the accusation, officials said. Walter Marquez, Venezuela's ambassador to India, met with an agent in Miami on Thursday to file a complaint, FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said. Marquez is responding to allegations made last month by Juan Ramon Diaz, who accused him and President Hugo Chavez of transferring $1 million to the Taliban and al-Qaida shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The money was disguised as humanitarian aid to the Taliban, and Marquez arranged to take the money to Afghanistan, according to the lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch. Diaz's wife allegedly died in the World Trade Center attacks, and the lawsuit asks for $100 million in damages. Marquez said Diaz is lying about the alleged donations to al-Qaida. Marquez displayed letters and bank receipts during a press conference at the Venezuelan Consulate in Miami in an attempt to prove the government made legitimate contributions of $1 million to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees to be used for Afghan aide. He said an additional $1 million was also given to the Indian government for an earthquake relief fund. Diaz fled Venezuela in January, saying he feared for his family's safety. He sought asylum in the United States, but his whereabouts could not be determined Thursday night. The lawsuit does not name the victim but said she was a 47-year-old U.S. national who was at a meeting in the center's South Tower when a hijacked United Airlines jet hit the building below her. The suit was filed on behalf of her husband, two teenage daughters and parents by Judicial Watch. Marquez also has filed a $1 million defamation lawsuit against Diaz.

Information from: South Florida Sun-Sentinel,

Last modified: February 21. 2003 12:58AM

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, February 20, 2003 By: Einnoc Lebrac

Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 16:31:18 -0800 (PST) From: Einnoc Lebrac venezuelanoestuya@yahoo.com To: editor@vheadline.com Subject: Bush, the opposition & the guy with the grenade

Dear Editor: I have been thinking about the incident of the "Venezuelan citizen" caught in London, carrying a "grenade."

1-  While working for the Venezuelan government in 1993, I witnessed the discovery of several Venezuelan passports in possession of non-Venezuelan citizens (they used to sell all around the world @ about US$ 5,000-20,000).

2- On the other hand. What a coincidence that it was in England (Bush-Blair Combo...) that this incident with the grenade, occurred.

3- Of course it is appropriate to publicize that the guy must be involved with Al-Qaeda, and of course, timing is right to have him come from Venezuela.

4- Who could possible think of something like this?  And why would this guy choose England of all places, especially now?  Doesn't it smell fishy to you?

5- I do not believe this was an incident ... but that it was all planned out.  Well, and the guy is from Margarita, of course...

6- Now we, a group of "so civilized, brilliant and educated Venezuelans" have our road paved to have Venezuela invaded, attacked and destroyed (whatever is left to destroy after the criminal oil lockout) just like it happened to Afghanistan ... how else could we force our way against Chavez, but by destroying the whole country?  An easy way to get rid of poverty ... yeah ... let's just kill all the poor with a good excuse to back us up ... then almighty USA will help us rebuild the whole thing into a Miami-type of paradise ... no poor, no problems.

Because there are no poor in Miami, you know ... the US Society is sooooo perfect.  Please, come to Florida, I`ll show you around...

I just could not stop thinking, this whole thing smells so fishy...

Einnoc Lebrac venezuelanoestuya@yahoo.com

www.sun-sentinel.com By Patrick Markey Reuters Posted February 20 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela · British anti-terrorism police arrived in Caracas on Tuesday to piece together the life of a Venezuelan man who flew from the South American country to London's Gatwick airport with a live hand grenade in his luggage. Three officers from the Metropolitan Police were scheduled to arrive as part of their investigation into Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan, 37, who was arrested last week after stepping off a British Airways flight from Caracas, sources close to the investigation said. Venezuelan immigration authorities say Rahaham-Alan was carrying a false domestic identification card and they could not confirm his identity. "It's the same name, but we are not sure we are talking about the same person. We're not sure if he is a Venezuelan or not," said Alfredo Gil Romero, director of the immigration control agency. Reporters visited the two-story green-and-white home where Rahaham-Alan told a London courtroom he had lived. Neighbors said that a family named Rahaham had lived for more than a decade in the house, perched along a sun-scorched hillside overlooking the eastern part of Caracas. Interpol police on Friday visited the home, which had been unoccupied for almost a month, local residents said. "I was surprised to hear this," said one neighbor. "They are really decent, professional people. I used to call the mother `grandma' and she would invite me in for tea and coffee." The elderly mother and her four children were not thought to be native Venezuelans, but residents of this middle-class neighborhood said they didn't know where the family had come from. Two sons and a daughter lived outside Caracas, but the third son had not visited the home for about three years, they said. Rahaham-Alan appeared in a London court on Monday, where he was charged with possession of an article for the purpose of committing a terrorist act and possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or damage property. He also is charged with carrying a dangerous article on a British-registered plane. He has been remanded in custody and will appear at London's Old Bailey court on Feb. 24. U.S. officials last year said they were concerned that extremist Islamic groups were receiving financial backing from Middle Eastern expatriate communities on Venezuela's Margarita Island, a popular Caribbean tourist haven. The mainland shares a rugged, porous border with Colombia and has long been a conduit for drugs and counterfeit goods to and from other South American countries. Venezuelan government officials admit their troubled immigration controls need an urgent overhaul. Rahaham-Alan, bearded with long dark hair, arrived at Gatwick last Thursday on a British Airways flight that officials said started in Bogotá, Colombia, and made stops in Caracas and Barbados before heading to London. He was arrested after police discovered the grenade in his bags. Police, already on high alert because of threats of an attack, were forced to evacuate the airport's north terminal, delaying or canceling scores of flights. British officials also want to determine how a hand grenade got through Caracas airport security. Sources said the grenade was in a metal box that helped mask it from X-ray equipment.

www.sun-sentinel.com By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Posted February 19 2003

WASHINGTON -- Billions in taxpayer dollars and swarms of federal screeners have made U.S. airports harder for terrorists to hit, but passenger jets bound for America remain vulnerable overseas because of gaps in global security, industry and government officials say.

"There are hundreds and hundreds of examples of gaping holes in foreign security," said Capt. Steve Luckey, security chairman for the Air Line Pilots Assn. "There is nothing out there to negate a recurrence of 9/11, provided [terrorists] do it at the end of the flight instead of the beginning."

The concerns are intensifying as a possible war with Iraq looms closer. They increased earlier this month when the government, citing specific threats against U.S. targets here or overseas, elevated the nation's terrorism alert system to its second-highest level.

Perfunctory passenger screening at U.S. airports has been replaced by close inspection under the federal Transportation Security Administration. One unintended result may be to displace the threat, making it more tempting to attack American aviation at less secure airports overseas.

"It is much easier for terrorists to plan and to move around overseas," said Cathal Flynn, who headed the Federal Aviation Administration's security branch during much of the 1990s. "These guys will go wherever they see a weakness, so every place in the world has to be considered high threat."

Under international agreements, all nations must provide basic screening of passengers and luggage. In practice, there is no uniform level of security. European countries, Canada and Japan have beefed up airport security since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Yet many poorer countries cannot afford to do it.

In Asia, Japan's added countermeasures are offset by spotty progress among Southeast Asian countries, said an airline pilot who is based in Southern California and regularly flies Pacific Rim routes.

"We do have a concern," the pilot said, speaking on condition of anonymity, "because it seems that Manila, Thailand, Kuala Lumpur -- those are some of the main route structures that all these terrorists use."

Such concerns are legitimate, said James Loy, who heads the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. "Security has become a new issue to be carried to the international organizations," Loy said in a recent interview. "We are trying to persuade other countries to become part of the solution."

One way to frustrate the government's $6.6-billion investment in protecting American air passengers is to strike beyond the reach of the U.S. security agency. An attack "is more likely to happen somewhere where TSA isn't located," said a Transportation Department official. "The challenge is keeping complacency from setting in."

The last known terrorist attempt against a U.S. airliner began on French soil. Richard Reid boarded a Paris-to-Miami flight on Dec. 22, 2001, waited until the plane was over the Atlantic, then tried to light explosives in his shoes. Last month, he was sentenced to three life terms.

The Reid incident brought a quick response in the United States as authorities deployed advanced equipment at airport checkpoints so screeners could test for explosives residue on passengers' shoes. But relatively few overseas airports have the $45,000 detection units, even though Reid's plot originated abroad.

"We need to get more equipment abroad to do screening," Flynn said. "We have deployed thousands of Trace detectors in the United States, but they have not been deployed to U.S. air carrier stations overseas, except in a few instances."

For travelers grown accustomed to stricter U.S. security, an encounter with lower standards overseas can be unsettling.

"There was no working metal detector, there was no working anything," said a California woman who flew back to Atlanta from Montego Bay, Jamaica, last month on Delta Airlines. "It was a mess. It was a horrible mess."

As she arrived to board Flight 682, the woman said security at the Jamaican airport appeared to simply break down. "It was packed with people, and there was no luggage moving through the X-ray monitors," said the woman, who asked not to be identified because of concerns for her job.

Jamaican security officials began to let passengers through, she said, although some were stopped at random and asked to open their bags for a visual check. If they refused, they were allowed to continue nonetheless.

"People were not screened, that was the thing that was so amazing to me," said the woman. "The plane was coming right into our borders, bringing passengers from God knows where, and they were not checked."

At U.S. airports, all passengers entering a departure concourse must pass through metal detectors and put their carry-on items through X-ray machines. If one person tries to circumvent a security checkpoint, it can lead to the whole terminal being emptied out or "dumped" for re-checking.

Delta Flight 682 arrived safely in Atlanta. "Nothing happened," said the woman who took the flight, "but the fact is there was every opportunity for something to happen."

Delta does not comment on security matters, said spokesman Anthony Black. "We don't control security in Montego Bay," he added.

In another example of apparent lax security abroad, British authorities last week detained a 37-year-old Venezuelan man at Gatwick Airport in London after finding a grenade in his baggage upon his arrival on a British Airways flight from Caracas, Venezuela.

The man, who identified himself as Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan, was charged with possession of an explosive, possession of an article for terrorist purposes and carrying a dangerous item on a flight. He remains in custody.

Gatwick's north terminal was closed for hours after the grenade was found, and flights at the terminal were suspended until police determined there was no further threat.

For terrorists who operate globally, many countries can be used as staging areas for an attack. "Although the Caribbean is not a high-risk place historically from a terrorist perspective, it doesn't have a lot of good security and it is close to home," said Luckey, the pilots union official.

U.S. airlines could copy El Al's strategy and provide their own security abroad, said Flynn, the former FAA security chief. In Los Angeles on July 4, it was El Al security agents who tackled and shot an Egyptian immigrant who opened fire on the airline's ticket counter, killing two people before he was fatally wounded.

American carriers do have additional security of their own, say industry officials, especially on the busiest international routes. At some airports, the airlines employ their own guards to check passengers after they clear local security. But the financially struggling airlines cannot afford to deliver a consistently high level of protection at all departure points.

Among the standard precautions that U.S. carriers provide are reinforced cockpit doors and checks to ensure that no luggage is loaded into the cargo hold unless the passenger has also boarded the flight. Names of international passengers are screened against "watch lists" of people with terrorist links.

If war breaks out, many Americans are likely to stay home. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, travel to Europe and Asia plunged. International bookings fell for the first time since the end of World War II.

International standards for airport security are set by a U.N. agency, the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization. With 188 members, it includes every nation in the world. The organization is well aware that the territory of any of its members could become the gateway for an attack.

"Like a chain, the aviation system is only as strong as its weakest link," organization President Assad Kotaite wrote this month in an industry publication. "A potential perpetrator will always try to exploit that weakest link, [although] his target may be halfway around the world."

But compliance with international security standards is entirely voluntary.

"What we do is bring all the member countries together and design security programs," spokesman Denis Chagnon said. "We don't track them, so I really can't comment on the level of security in any one country."

Such international agreements "aren't worth the paper they're written on," Luckey said. "There has to be some vehicle to back up the intent. If some countries can't afford to buy the technology, then we have to look at how much we can afford to subsidize foreign countries."

In the past, the FAA inspected high-risk foreign airports, a responsibility that now rests with the new U.S. security agency. The U.S. has several ways to pressure foreign governments, from publicizing their security problems to banning flights by American carriers to problem airports.

Loy said his power to influence his overseas counterparts is limited. "This is not our national turf," he said. But Flynn said the Transportation Security Administration has to begin to broaden its focus beyond the 429 commercial airports in the U.S. "There is a huge American responsibility here," he said. "The turf of other countries should have nothing to do with it if there is any concern about the security of flights."