US steps up border security over al-Qaida nuclear threat

SECURITY is being stepped up at the border between the US and Mexico amid new intelligence al-Qaida aims to smuggle nuclear material through a crossing point.

A senior US security official told Time Magazine a recent captive in the war on terror admitted to “al-Qaida’s interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the US or Mexico.”

Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian, was captured in late August near Pakistan’s border with Iran and Afghanistan.