Mexican Officials Foil Plot to Smuggle Gaddafi's Son Into Mexico
Mexican officials have said they have foiled an elaborate plot to sneak al-Saadi Gaddafi, the son of dethroned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and his family into Mexico.
"The activities of the criminal organization in our country included the falsification of official documents, the opening of bank accounts with false documents, the purchase of real estate that were intended, among other things, to serve as a residence for the Gaddafi family at a house located in the zone of the Bahia de Banderas," said Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire.
The four international suspects allegedly opened bank accounts and bought multiple properties in Mexico with the intent to use them as safe houses.
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"The large economic resources which this criminal organization has, or had, allowed them to contract private flights," Poire said in a news conference.
Piore said the international plan involving one Canadian suspect, one Danish suspect and two Mexicans, was uncovered in early September.
Al-Saadi chose to flee Libya soon after his father, dictator of Libya for over 40 years, was overthrown in late August. Al-Saadi only made it to Niger before being discovered.
Al-Saadi is currently on house arrest in Niger.
The plot’s leader, a Canadian woman named Cynthia Vanier, was detained on Nov. 10 and is being held under a form of house arrest with the three other plotters on suspicion of falsifying Mexican identification documents.
According to Poire, Vanier "was the direct contact with the Gaddafi family and the leader of the group, and presumably was the person in charge of the finances of the operation."
Col. Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebel forces on Oct. 20 in Libya. The Colonel had eight children. His second son, Saif al-Islam, was captured in November and will face trial before the International Criminal Court. Three other Gaddafi children have fled to Algeria and another three are dead.
