A South African citizen has been arrested in Mexico for alleged involvement in al-Qaeda-linked terrorist activities, South African media reported on Thursday, prompting further speculation about al-Qaeda presence in the country. The man, so far unidentified, was carrying a South African passport and a mobile phone that had been used to make calls to South Africa when he was nabbed in Mexico near the US border on Tuesday, said local newspaper Thisday. However, the South African government has yet confirmed if the man is genuine South African citizen or foreign national holding South African travel documentation.
| I'll take phoney documents for $200, Alex. |
Another newspaper, The Star, quoted a governmental official as saying that the 29-year-old with a Muslim name was arrested because the Mexican authorities believed his travel documents were not in order.
| They'd have to be pretty bad for a Mexican cop to notice |
If proved to be a South African, he would be the fourth South African citizen arrested overseas for alleged link with al-Qaeda in three weeks, said the newspaper. Two South African men, Feroz Ganchi and Zubair Ismail, were arrested as terrorist suspects in Pakistan last month. And a South African woman, Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, was arrested in Texas,the United States, on July 19 on illegal immigration charges.
| They are still checking to see if she is who she says she is. |
The South African government, through its diplomatic missions in Mexico, the United States and Pakistan, is trying to gain access to the arrested people. But the efforts have up to now unsuccessful. The cabinet and the country intelligence heads on Wednesday refuted media reports that South Africa is a target of terrorist attack.
| De Nile also runs through South Africa. |
Reports from Pakistan alleged that the two men being held there had confessed to a terror plot to attack tourist sites in Johannesburg. |