Al-qaeda training camps in south africa

Johannesburg - Security officials have been monitoring the training of al-Qaeda militants in South Africa for several years but have not taken any action despite incriminating evidence, it emerged on Monday.

A report by the Daily Maverick, based on a year-long investigation, shows that the police’s Crimes Against the State specialised unit as well as the State Security Agency are aware of the military training camps.

The camps are in three locations in South Africa: the former apartheid police base at Vlakplaas, a secluded farm in the Klein Karoo and another location in the Eastern Cape.

The police’s investigation into the camps was called Operation Kanu.

British and US intelligence agencies have apparently pressured the South African government to act on any possible Muslim terrorist threats but so far little action has been taken.

The Vlakplaas base is linked to the well-known Dockrat family and a mosque in Laudium outside Pretoria.

 

South African Govt ignores Jihad camps

One camp south of Haarlem in the Western Cape, South Africa is located at coordinates -33.451736 23.214917

It has emerged that the police's specialised unit, Crimes Against the State (CATS) and the State Security Agency (SSA) have uncovered al-Qaeda-linked military training camps operating in South Africa, but are doing nothing about them.
The year-long investigation by the Daily Maverick revealed inaction by the police despite incriminating evidence about the training camps and those who set them up.
State intelligence agencies started monitoring the activities soon after the World Trade Centre attack on September 11, 2001 but ceased their surveillance in 2010.
After nearly a decade of top secret surveillance and intelligence gathering, it has emerged that state intelligence has even stopped spying on known military training camps.
The Daily Maverick investigation found camps setup near Erasmia, east of Pretoria, on a farm in the Klein Karoo and attempts to create one at a golf estate along the Garden Route in Tsitsikamma.
The camps are equipped with training facilities and barracks which are believed to sleep mostly Pakistani and Malawian immigrants.
The operations are said be led by Johannesburg dentist, Junaid Ismail Dockrat and his cousin, Muslim cleric Farhad Ahmed Dockrat who have been identified as al-Qaeda financiers, recruiters and facilitators.
The pair dismissed the Tsitsikamma claims saying it emanated from a disgruntled former employee.
The Hawks declined to explain why their operation was halted, saying they do not comment on ongoing investigations.
United States and British intelligence agencies regard South Africa as an international terrorist halfway house.
For nearly a decade South Africa's intelligence agencies had been spying on Islamic military training camps and those linked to them, but this was all stopped in 2010, without an explanation.
In addition to the camps, undercover intelligence operatives in conjunction with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) have established that more than R9 million has been smuggled to terrorist organisations in the last two years.
In October 2008, Sars traced an amount of more than R31 million which was smuggled overseas by a Pakistani group.

South African Authorities Turn Blind Eye to Al Qaeda Training Camp at Misgund/Haarlem in Southern Cape mountain area

COORDINATES: -33.451736 23.214917

The SA Police Service's top-secret, deep-cover operation Operation Kanu – was driven by crime intelligence, and was launched shortly after the 9-11 World Trade Center terror attacks to investigate extremist Muslim activities in the country. Operation Kanu began at the same time as the parallel investigation into far right-wing activities called Operation Wacko.Operation Wacko resulted in the marathon Boeremag trial. The right-wingers were dubbed Al-Cadac by a police wit, as the Afrikaners’ plot allegedly was often discussed over a braai.

Yet Operation Kanu resulted in no action from intelligence agencies, and no arrests of the alleged trainees or the masterminds.All spying activities in connection with Operation Kanu were abruptly halted at the beginning of 2010 under yet-unexplained circumstances.

The teams of intelligence operatives were recalled from the operation sites, all visual material seized and laptops with the surveillance data and situation reports of deep-cover agents taken away from them.

The men were told by their superiors that the orders for the cessation of the surveillance operation had come “from the top”. No other explanations were given and they were re-deployed to other assignments.

Considering how corrupt South Africa is and how wealthy the players are, it’s not hard to imagine how that worked out.

At the centre of this alleged terrorist network are several members of the well-known and influential Dockrat family.
The family was catapulted into the world focus in 2007 when US terrorism financing trackers have noted suspicious financial transactions coming out of South Africa that appeared to benefit al-Qaeda.

Reuters journalist Michael Georgy published a story in January 2007, reporting that papers had been submitted by the United States to the UN Security Council alleging that both Junaid and Farhad had acted as al-Qaeda “financiers, recruiters and facilitators”.

According to the Reuters report, they had transferred funds to al-Qaeda and coordinated the travel of South Africans to Pakistan to train there with militant Islamic groups. Both men deny these charges.

US intelligence claimed that in 2004, Junaid Dockrat assisted al-Qaeda operations chief Hamza Rabi’a (now deceased) to coordinate the travel of South Africans to Pakistan in order for them to train with al-Qaeda. It further claimed he was also responsible for raising $120,000 that Rabi’a received in the spring of 2004.

The clan runs an armed compound that looks a whole lot like a terrorist training camp.
On Friday afternoons, after the midday prayers, South African intelligence agents monitored several people leave the mosque and go to a farm (*inaccurately named as 'Vlakplaas' in this article )

- However there is a known El Qaeda training camp reported by locals at Haarlem - Misgund coordinates -33.451736 23.214917).

The “military style” obstacle course and the shooting range are still visible on the farm, and agents say they saw people take part in military-style training.

But the South African government continues to ignore the issue, while pursuing those 'right wing extremists'.(*who are no threat to national security at all because there is no 'plot').

US and British intelligence have warned the South African authorities to stop “pussyfooting” with intelligence regarding international terrorists activities in South Africa.

“The fact that no bombs have gone off to date in the country doesn’t mean that the threat doesn’t exist within South Africa’s borders,” they warned.

Despite overwhelming intelligence information gathered well before the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, no action had been taken to date.