Costa Rica detains Somalian on terrorist alert

Costa Rican authorities say they detained a suspected terrorist in the country Wednesday after receiving an alert from U.S. immigration officials.

Pubic Security Minister Gustavo Mata said in a press conference Thursday morning that a 25-year-old Somalian identified as Ibrahim Qoordheen entered Costa Rica through the Paso Canoas border with Panama on Monday.

Authorities detained the suspect overnight Wednesday at a migrant camp in La Cruz near the Nicaraguan border after officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested Qoordheen’s immediate arrest. U.S. authorities say that the Somalian is somehow connected to an international terrorist organization, although neither they nor Mata released information regarding the names of any specific groups, or what the man is suspected of doing.

“To talk about a terrorist attack is not prudent,” Mata said. “A lot of times this type of information comes from alerts from U.S. authorities and these alerts are often dismissed. We can’t confirm that this subject was going to commit an act of terrorism.”

Mata said that Costa Rican authorities took the suspect’s fingerprints and that he is now being held at the Immigration Prison in Hatillo.  Police here are now awaiting a pending U.S. investigation to decide whether or not further action will be taken against Qoordheen.

Mata added that authorities assume the man was ultimately headed to the United States.