VISAS VIPER: JUNE 2005 MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORT

S E C R E T BUCHAREST 001518

SIPDIS

VISAS

DEPT FOR CA/VO/L/C AND INR/TIPOFF
STATE PLEASE PASS TO NCTC WASHDC/TIG AND DSH/HQINT WASHDC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2015
TAGS: ASEC CMGT CVIS KVPR LE PINR PTER RO KANSOU TALAL MOHAMAD
SUBJECT: VISAS VIPER: JUNE 2005 MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORT

REF: A. A) STATE 124726


B. B) BUCHAREST 01341

C. C) DONKEY BCH 000038Q00

D. 15 JUNE 2005

E. D) 2003 STATE 055649

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL BRYAN DALTON FOR REASONS 1.5 B, C AND D


1. (U) Visas Viper


2. (U) Embassy Bucharest's Visas Viper Committee met on 28
June 2005. Consul General Bryan Dalton chaired the meeting.
No new names were submitted to the committee at the meeting.
Since May,s Visas Viper Report (Ref B),post submitted no
additional names for consideration by the Department. After
the 28 June meeting, the committee received a name for
consideration by the Department (see below).


3. (U) KANSOU, Talal Mohamad; Male; Married; 20 August 1968;
Mazeraa, Lebanon or El Mazraa, Lebanon or Beirut, Lebanon;
Father,s name: Kansou, Mohammed; Mother,s name: Jbeily,
Samirah; Passport data: Lebanese passport no. 0721319, issued
08 April 1993, expires 04 October 2007; Physical description:
black hair, 180 cm, weight 110 kg; Current occupation:
Business owner (restaurant).


4. (S) Post has uncorroborated information indicating that
subject has connections to Lebanese Hizballah and may in fact
have provided support to active Hizballah members in Romania.
Subject has ongoing business connections with Lebanon.
Further, the Romanian Ministry of Justice has implicated
subject in drug trafficking. On 18 February 2005, the
Romanian government rejected subject's request for permanent
resident status in Romania.


5. (U) Subject was born in Lebanon, lived in Qatar with his
family for several years in the late 1980s, and moved to
Romania in 1991. He is a part-owner of a popular upscale
Lebanese restaurant in Bucharest. From 1984-89, he had LPR
status and was living in Orlando, Florida. He continued to
maintain his LPR status through regular travel to and from
the U.S. until early 2004. Because he has now been outside
the U.S. for more than one year, his AmCit wife recently
filed a new I-130 immigrant visa petition for him at post.


6. (U) Post submitted Visas Donkey (Ref C) on subject because
it was interested in a DPT 00 hit that for some reason no
longer shows up when doing a namecheck on this subject (but
did show up a couple of months ago when the first namecheck
was done, and is still in CLASS if you enter the name exactly
as it appears in the hit). The hit post was interested in is:

NAME: KANSOU, JALAL DOB: -- POB: LEBN
REF SITE: DPT 00 REF DATE: 27-FEB-1997 UID: TSC 37255
REF COMMENT: NONE 32291
LONG COMMENTS: NONE 32291DOSVODPT19970228000352800

This hit differs from subject only by the first letter of the
first name (J instead of T). Given the very close similarity
between subject's name and DPOB and that of the hit, post is
concerned in general that the most recent revision of the
namecheck algorithm may prevent applicable hits from showing
up during a CLASS namecheck. Post requested that the
Department review the hit.


7. (U) This fulfills Embassy Bucharest's Visas Viper
reporting requirement for the month of June 2005.
TAPLIN