Probe of merchant mariners finds terrorist ties
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nine people with ties to terrorist organizations were identified during a 14-month Coast Guard and FBI investigation into national security threats and document fraud among U.S. merchant ships, officials said Thursday.
The investigation also found thousands of cases of potential fraud and identified individuals working on ships who had arrest warrants pending against them.
“Through extensive and detailed investigative efforts, we have reduced vulnerabilities to terrorism by preventing the fraudulent use of credentials by those who seek to harm our nation and its citizens,” said Admiral Thomas H. Collins, the Coast Guard commandant.
The FBI and Coast Guard examined the records of more than 200,000 individuals who work aboard commercial ships, including passenger ships. Such employees must apply for credentials from the federal government that certify they are qualified to work aboard the ship and that allow them to embark and disembark while at a foreign port.
It is a federal crime to make false statements on the credential applications or to fail to disclose a required piece of information, such as past drug use. Some of people who did so are being referred to U.S. attorneys around the country for prosecution, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Jolie Shifflet.
No details were available about the nine people possibly associated with terrorist groups. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks blamed on al-Qaida, U.S. officials have been concerned that terrorists might enter the country via seaports or launch attacks on oil tankers or other ships.
About a dozen individuals have been arrested because of the pending criminal warrants against them. The Coast Guard is working to revoke the mariner credentials of those who were obtained under false pretenses.
In addition, the Coast Guard, FBI and Navy screened mariners who were working on commercial ships carrying material for the war in Iraq, with about a dozen of them removed from the vessels when questions arose.