EMBASSY AND CONSULATE GENERAL RECEIVE "POISON PEN"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000019 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/FO, CA, CA/VO, DS/TIA/ITA, DS/TIA/PII, DS/IP/AF, AF/W, AF/RSA, INR/IAA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2020 TAGS: PTER CVIS ASEC PINR PINS PREL NI SUBJECT: EMBASSY AND CONSULATE GENERAL RECEIVE "POISON PEN" MISSIVES ALLEGING IDENTITIES OF ADDITIONAL NIGERIAN TERRORISTS REF: A. 09 ABUJA 2165 ¶B. LAGOS 4 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Political Counselor James P. McAnulty for reasons in sections 1.4 (b) and (d). -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The Embassy and Consulate General have received correspondence and e-mail messages in the form of "poison pen" missives regarding alleged Nigerian terrorists. In follow-up to Mission's daily Law Enforcement Working Group (LEWG) meetings, convened after the attempted December 25 attack on a U.S. airliner, Embassy provides summaries of these poison pen missives. When possible, our Consular Sections have entered a "Look Out" or "Watch Phrase" into the Consolidated Consular Database (CCD) and passed security-related "poison pen" missives to the Regional Security and Legal Attache Offices. END SUMMARY. -------------- LETTER FROM "CONCERNED CITIZENS OF NKEREHI" -------------- ¶2. (C) The Embassy Consular Section received a letter, dated December 31, 2009, from "Concerned Citizens of Nkerehi," signed by Arinze E Igwike and Joseph Anulobi, who identified themselves, respectively, as the President and Secretary General of the organization, which alleged that a U.S.-Nigerian citizen has trained and sponsored members of a terrorist group named "Umuchukwu Militia." The group alleges that this individual, a medical doctor based in Las Vegas, Nevada, founded and sponsored terrorist groups "to pursue his religious fanatical convictions." According to this group, this individual planned to "migrate" some of these terrorists to the United States. (COMMENT: Embassy will forward the name and specifics of this individual separately, given the person's status as a U.S. citizen. END COMMENT.) -------------- E-MAIL MESSAGE FROM ABDUL GAFFAR MUTALB -------------- ¶3. (C) The public Internet website for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation received the following e-mail message (N.B.: with multiple misspellings and grammatical errors END NOTE) from Abdul Gaffar Mutalb on December 27: "I wawnt U guyz to Know That Da Delta Airline incident iz NT Over...We are Going to Bring America Down . . ." The Lagos Legal 
Attache Office continues to investigate this information and, to date, has received full cooperation from the Nigerian Government's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), which has procedures and experience in tracking down Nigerian IP addresses used for illicit purposes. In this instance, the Internet Protocol (IP) address reportedly has a Nigerian domicile. -------------- E-MAIL MESSAGE FROM MAZI PATRICK -------------- ¶4. (C) On January 2, ConGen Lagos Immigrant Visa Section, Non-Immigrant Visa Section, and other addressees received an e-mail message from Mazi Patrick purporting that the father of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Alhaji Umar Mutallab, is part of a wider network of Northern Nigerian elites, including former President Ibrahim Babangida, who sponsor terrorism and religious riots. Patrick also warned that "Nigerians who Qreligious riots. Patrick also warned that "Nigerians who worship money" might "unknowingly carry bags containing explosives and timed bombs for their terror (sic) wealthy bosses." Patrick says Al-Qaeda's claim to be behind the bomb-attempt on December 25, 2009, is inaccurate. He lastly appealed for help from the international security community to locate the true whereabouts of President Yar'Adua and determine if he is alive or dead. -------------- E-MAIL MESSAGE FROM JOY EBUBEOGU ABUJA 00000019 002 OF 002 -------------- ¶5. (C) On January 4, Lagos Immigrant Visa and Abuja Consular Sections received an e-mail message from Joy Ebubeogu warning against two sisters, Olatayo Akamoh and Olutosin Ayodele, who the sender claimed worked for an unnamed terrorist group based in the Middle East. Ebubeogu alleged that both women had traveled to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to meet with the "Terrorist Group," and advised the United States not to give visas to these "two deadly and frustrated" sisters "determined to cause damage in America." -------------- E-MAIL MESSAGE FROM "THE WORLD CITIZEN" -------------- ¶6. (C) Before the attempted December 25 bombing of a U.S. airliner, the Consulate General Lagos Non-Immigrant Visa Section received an e-mail message November 28 warning about Friday Frank Obonoh, who allegedly has "cult" connections and lives by illegal activities including kidnapping. The e-mail message alleged that Obonoh had recently traveled to Germany, Indonesia, Yemen, and South Africa, and was now seeking to travel -- or send a proxy -- to the U.S. for unknown but purportedly sinister purposes. The e-mail message, signed by "The World Citizen" and sent from e-mail address "caayodele(at)gmail.com," which reportedly is a proxy for a person named Idongesit Daniel Udo. -------------- FOLLOW UP ACTIONS -------------- ¶7. (C) In all cases involving poison-pen missives to the Consular Section, ConGen Lagos has entered a "Look Out" (where date of birth was provided) or "Watch Phrase" (where information was too imprecise to enable a "Look Out") into the Consolidated Consular Database (CCD). If and when someone with a name and date of birth matching the "Look Out" applies for a visa, the "Look Out" will appear automatically on the screen of the adjudicating consular officer, who can then read the text of the e-mail message. The "Watch Phrase" triggers an e-mail notification to ConGen Lagos whenever someone with a matching name applies for a visa service, enabling Lagos to contact the adjudicating officer and exchange information. Embassy Abuja and ConGen Lagos have implemented a policy of passing "poison-pen" missives as security-related information to the Assistant Regional Security Office (RSO) investigator and, effective January 5, to the Legal Attache Office. ¶8. (U) Embassy Abuja and ConGen Lagos collaborated on this telegram. SANDERS