Authorities in seven countries spent the last month or two trying to locate Gitmo alumnus Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmad Diyab, a.k.a. Abu Wael Dihab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab, who went missing from Uruguay.
For brevity’s sake, let’s call him Diyab.
The former member of the “Syrian Group”, which was “comprised of dismantled terrorist cells that escaped Syrian authorities and fled to Afghanistan (AF) in 2000,” was released by the Obama administration from Guantanamo and sent to Uruguay. He went to Argentina last February, and declared himself “ready to fight“,
After that, Diyab tried to enter Brazil three times but was turned away at the border. Then authorities lost track of him, until now.
And he’s in Venezuela:
Former Gitmo Detainee Shows Up in Venezuela. Abu Wa’el Dhiab unexpectedly left his home in Uruguay, raising concerns (emphasis added)
A former Guantanamo Bay detainee who unexpectedly disappeared from Uruguay last month showed up in Venezuela on Tuesday, saying he wanted help traveling to Turkey, Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry said.
Abu Wa’el Dhiab, who was transferred by the Obama administration to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 2014, appeared at Uruguay’s consulate in Caracas and asked for assistance to fly to Turkey or some other country to be reunited with his family.
“He made it clear he has no interest in returning to Uruguay, but that he needs our country’s help,” the ministry said late Wednesday, adding that Venezuelan authorities were aware of the situation.
A spokesman for the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in Caracas had said earlier that the office had no information about the former detainee’s arrival.
. . .
Mr. Dhiab’s travel plans may raise additional concern, given Turkey’s porous border with Syria and its use as an entry point for volunteers looking to join Islamic State.
How did he get there? He supposedly needs crutches to walk.
Who helped him along the way? Who’s bankrolling him?
Where is he staying? With whom? Doing what?
UPDATE:
The more I think about it, the worse this story looks.
A known terrorist, who supposedly needs crutches to get around, goes missing for several weeks, to eventually turn up some 4,600 miles away from Montevideo (a little under the distance from New York to Moscow), in Venezuela, of all places, just so he can petition the Uruguayan consulate – which he could do in Montevideo – to “ask for assistance to fly to Turkey or some other country to be reunited with his family.”
This simply does not pass the smell test.
Linked to by Gates of Vienna. Thank you!
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