| A MAN believed to be a member of al-Qaeda plotted to blow up the Panama Canal, a spokesman for the Honduran security ministry told AFP today. Leonel Sauceda confirmed Security Minister Oscar Alvarez’s comments to local media that the 38-year-old suspect - identified as Adnan Guishar El Shukrijumah, or Jafar al-Tayar, who was in Honduras late last month - "planned to plant explosives in the Panama Canal to hamper boat traffic in the area." Mr Alvarez’s remarks were published in the daily La Tribuna today, along with four photos of the suspect. International intelligence officials have offered a $US5 million ($7.25 million) reward for information leading to his capture. Mr Alvarez did not say when Mr Shukrijumah entered or left the country, nor through which country he had travelled. But Sauceda said he was in Honduras on May 27. Mr Shukrijumah holds passports from Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Guyana, according to the authorities. |