US arrests Canal terror attack suspects
AN AMERICAN suspected of belonging to the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah movement who carried out missions to monitor the Panama Canal as a possible terrorist target, is one of two men arrested and charged said the US Justice Department said on Thursday, June 8.
Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Mich., conducted missions in Panama to locate the US and Israeli embassies and assess the vulnerabilities of the Panama Canal and ships on the canal, said Southern District Prosecutor Joon Kim.
The other is a Lebanese who arrived in the United States in 2003 and was naturalized in 2009. Prosecutors said Ali Kourani, 32, a resident of the Bronx, New York, allegedly onitored potential targets in the United States, including military and police facilities in New York
In Panama, the State Department of Communications reported that the National Security Council, “in coordination with its counterpart in the United States,” monitored airports and border crossings for Samer El Debek and Ali Kourani .
“The United States authorities alerted Panama to the possible arrival of El Debek in July 2014 and immediately, took actions within the law to prevent them from entering the country,” said a press release from the State Department of Communication.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) says that it has worked in close collaboration and coordination with Panamanian state security agencies reports La Prensa.
The two men arrested carried out evaluation tasks at the two embassies and the waterway in 2011 and 2012.
“Daily ship risk assessments are carried out and strict access control measures are maintained, especially in installations vital to the operation and transit of ships,” said the ACP.
Kourani was arrested in the Bronx, New York, on June 1. Meanwhile, El Debek was arrested the same day, in Livonia, Michigan.
According to information from the Justice Department, El Debek and Kourani reportedly received military type training, including the use of rocketpropelled grenade launchers and rifles “and are accused among other charges of supporting a terrorist organization
and receiving Hezbollah training,” Said Joon Kim.
Created in the 1980s, Hezbollah is considered one of the allies of the Syrian Assad government regime.
