BajaNomad

Muslim Cleric caught being smuggled into the US at Tecate.

MexicoTed - 1-28-2011 at 11:22 AM

According to this report from a British online news service (not sure of it's credibility), the muslim cleric paid $5,000 to be smuggled across the border. They also arrested a Mr. Kenneth Robert Lawler who was, supposedly, the smuggler. Why does that name sound familiar? Here's the story:

Controversial Muslim cleric caught being smuggled into U.S. over Mexico border

U.S. border guards got a surprise when they searched a Mexican BMW and found a hardline Muslim cleric - banned from France and Canada - curled up in the boot.

Said Jaziri, who called for the death of a Danish cartoonist that drew pictures of the prophet Mohammed, was being smuggled into California when he was arrested, along with his driver Kenneth Robert Lawler.

The 43-year-old was deported from Canada to his homeland Tunisia in 2007 after it emerged he had lied on his refugee application about having served jail time in France.

His fire and brimstone sermons and rabble-rousing antics catapulted him into the public eye during his short tenure as imam at a Montreal mosque.

He branded homosexuality a disease and led protests over cartoonist Kurt Westergaard's illustrations poked fun at Islam and were published in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

He also caused anger when he campaigned for a bigger mosque to accommodate Montreal's burgeoning Muslim population.

But after his deportation he complained that he had been physically and mentally tortured during the 13-hour flight repatriating him to Tunisia, a claim Canadian authorities deny.

He was being held as a material witness in the criminal case against Mr Lawler, who has been charged with immigrant smuggling.

Jaziri had allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling cartel $5,000 to take him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a 'safe place anywhere in the U.S.'

According to the court documents, a Mexican guide led Jaziri and a Mexican immigrant over the border fence near Tecate.

They then trekked across the rugged terrain under cover of darkness to a spot popular for drivers who pick up immigrants for smuggling runs into San Diego.

He allegedly told officials he had flown from Africa to Europe, then to Central America and Chetumal, Mexico, on the Mexico-Belize border, where he took a bus to Tijuana.

Lise Garon, a professor of communications at Laval University in Quebec City, told the Los Angeles Times: 'His nickname in Quebec was the controversial imam.

'I think he was deported because people hated his ideas.'

His case drew support from the Muslim community as well as Amnesty International after he claimed he would be tortured if sent back to Tunisia.

Here's the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351385/Controversia...

[Edited on 1-28-2011 by MexicoTed]

[Edited on 1-28-2011 by MexicoTed]

bajacalifornian - 1-28-2011 at 12:44 PM

. . . . doable, and a red flag

wessongroup - 1-28-2011 at 12:51 PM

Ya think maybe he had bacon in his pockets... :lol::lol:

woody with a view - 1-28-2011 at 02:28 PM

hang him by his blanquillos. that's the only thing that puts the fear into them.....

Cypress - 1-28-2011 at 02:49 PM

Smuggled? :lol: Must have been a dumb one. Should have applied for a student/work/ political visa.

Dave - 1-28-2011 at 03:02 PM

Change the garb and he looks a lot like my lawn guy. If he had just learned a few rudimentary words of Spanish they probably would have sent him back to Mexico.

DENNIS - 1-28-2011 at 03:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by woody with a view
hang him by his blanquillos. that's the only thing that puts the fear into them.....



Yeah...make the Muslim sleep with pigs. God knows I've slept with my share of them. :lol:

SoCal-Bob - 1-28-2011 at 03:57 PM

Anyone else find the following confusing:
Quote:
According to the court documents, a Mexican guide led Jaziri and a Mexican immigrant over the border fence near Tecate.

They then trekked across the rugged terrain under cover of darkness to a spot popular for drivers who pick up immigrants for smuggling runs into San Diego.


If a Mexican guide led them over the border fence (and therefore into the US) near Tecate, why would they trek back across the border into Mexico to then be smuggled into the US by car in San Diego?

I'm guessing it was supposed to be led them "to the border fence."


Apparently border agents are often finding refuse such as books, jackets and food wrappers with Arabic writing on it along the Mexico border. But don't worry Federal gov't, the porous borders pose no national security threat.

[Edited on 1-28-2011 by SoCal-Bob]

Loretana - 1-28-2011 at 05:25 PM

Originally posted by SoCal-Bob
"If a Mexican guide led them over the border fence (and therefore into the US) near Tecate, why would they trek back across the border into Mexico to then be smuggled into the US by car in San Diego?"

My guess would be that Jaziri was picked up just inside the border of the US by his "driver" Kenneth Lawler in the BMW.

Those ICE boys at the Campo Border Patrol station on Route 94 up to the freeway undoubtedly did an IFF (identify, friend or foe?) on the car and decided to give it a closer inspection. They seem to be on alert there lately, and that's the good news.

BajaBruno - 1-28-2011 at 09:35 PM

This is the LA Times version--it makes a little more sense.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border-cleric-201101...

Firefighters saw two guys being secreted in the trunk of a car and called Border Patrol.

MexicoTed - 1-28-2011 at 10:24 PM

SoCal-Bob,

A friend of mine in one of the Fed. agencies told me the same thing last summer. They found a campsite with burned papers in it near Mountain Springs, CA, a known smuggling route. They could clearly see small bits of paper with Arabic words on it.

Ted

[Edited on 1-31-2011 by MexicoTed]