An Irish terror suspect on the run from Kenyan and international authorities is using a fake South African passport to slip across borders, but the department of home affairs says it can’t be held responsible for people using fraudulent travel documents.
Samantha Lewthwaite is believed to be part of a terrorist cell affiliated with Somali grouping al-Shaba’ab and is reportedly travelling on a forged South African passport under the name Natalie Faye Webb.
Lewthwaite has been on the run from Kenyan police since December last year after anti-terrorist officers pounced on the suspected terrorist group in Mombasa.
The Irish citizen is the widow of suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay, who died in the 7/7 London Terror Attacks in 2005.
Irish media are reporting that American CIA officials are also involved in the chase, along with along with Scotland Yard and England’s Metropolitan Police.
The department of home affairs has launched an investigation into the matter, in the hopes of ascertaining the authenticity of the passport.
Embassy bombing suspect
This is not the first time South African travel documents have been linked to terrorist activity.
The department is still investigating the incident in which Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a key figure in al-Qaeda’s East Africa operations and alleged mastermind of the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, was found to be in possession of a South African passport.
“The government cannot be held accountable for people illegally producing South African documents. We are ascertaining if it’s actually a South African passport and will hopefully be able to give an update on investigations by Thursday,” the department’s spokesperson, Ronnie Mamoepa, told the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, one of the alleged masterminds behind the 7/7 London Terror Attacks in 2005, lived in South Africa before the attacks — and travelled to England on a South African passport.
Additionally, suspected al-Qaeda operative Ihsan Garnaoui told German authorities in 2006 that he was in possession of several South African passports.
Britain ends free entry for South Africans
In 2008, based on fraud concerns over passports, the British government began requiring South Africans to obtain visas to enter the United Kingdom.
The Democratic Alliance has called on Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to explain to Parliament’s home affairs committee what is being done to safeguard the authenticity of South African documents.
“Passport and ID fraud continues to pervade the department of home affairs and it is of deep concern that the failings of this department may be helping to facilitate international terrorist activity,” the DA’s spokesperson for home affairs, Manny de Freitas, told the M&G.