Syrian suspect in Paris attacks travels through Ecuador, Colombia: Ecuadorian official

Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-11-21 13:08:26

Seham al-Salkhadi, a Syrian national who is under investigation for alleged participation in the Paris terrorist attacks, did travel through Ecuador, Ecuadorian Minister of Interior Jose Serrano said Friday.

"The woman did enter our country, with a legal passport, from Brazil. She was not here clandestinely," Serrano told the Ecuavisa television.

He added, however, that the suspected terrorist did not leave the country legally. "We have no record of her exit from the country but we do know she then entered Colombia."

Colombian authorities believe al-Salkhadi bribed Colombian immigration officials to illegally leave the country.

On Thursday, the Colombian Foreign Ministry said that it had "no information of any suspects (of the Paris attacks) having travelled through Colombia" and that there was no confirmation that al-Salkhadi had been involved in the attacks.

According to international media reports, al-Salkhadi travelled in May 2014 from Syria to Libya, where she spent eight months. Then she travelled from Turkey to Ecuador, where she stayed four months, before re-appearing in Bogota, Colombia. Her last movement was on July 6, when she travelled from Bogota to Paris with a stolen Israeli passport.

In the last few months, the woman was sought for her alleged links to radical groups in Europe.

Posted in: Cross-Borders

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