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.

According to the intelligence report, al-Masri said al-Qaida has considered plans to “smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the US.”

Meanwhile, US and Mexican intelligence officials were alerted to reports other al-Qaida detainees had described Mexico as a staging area “to acquire end-

stage chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear material.”

The Mexican border has long been a security concern for the US.

It is feared terrorists could also use the mountain passes or other soft spots to get into the US.