Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who leads the House Homeland Security Committee, says the Egyptian man who was discovered hiding out in a warehouse at Port Newark in New Jersey Jan. 31 had been detained in Colombia previously.
"Obviously, security failed," the
New York Post quotes King as saying. "What I find concerning is . . . that he was in a secure portion of the port, left that facility and then got out of the secure part of the facility and went to a building outside of the secure area."
The Post broke the story about the discovery of Asem Ellbahnsany Haroon, 26, who it said had infiltrated New York Harbor aboard a freighter.
"There have been reports . . . that indicate al-Qaida is trying to use explosive to blow up oil tankers to disrupt the world's economy," the newspaper quoted an unnamed law-enforcement source. “What's right next door to Port Newark? All of these oil refineries that line the highway there
The Post quotes federal sources who identified Haroon as a foreign fighter who “had fought as an insurgent against the American forces in Fallujah” Iraq.