And you've heard members of the public express their concerns about a former Al Qaeda terrorist being relocated to Belize. Today, we asked the Minister of Police about the safety concerns that Belizeans have, and he explained that Khan was properly vetted, and that they have a monitoring system in place. But what if someone tries to hurt him? Well, the ministry is remaining vigilant for those possibilities as well.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries
"I totally understand the sentiments of the Belizean people, the concerns that they may have hearing that this potential terrorist has been sent and resettle in Belize, but what I can say to reassure the Belizean people is that we went through a thorough vetting process, a very thorough screening and due diligence like the minister of foreign affairs mentioned. It was not just him, but it was our national security council director that went with him to Guantanamo Bay, it is also a doctor, a health professional who could asses the mental state of Mr. Khan and of course someone from our department that is very qualify to engage in that type of vetting and even though the request was for 3 individuals to resettle in Belize, based on the circumstances and based on the history of Mr. Khan and where he is at in terms of the assessment I can assure the Belizean people that they do not have anything to worry about."
"If we get any information to that effect then certainly, we will put things in place, but we have not gotten that type of intelligence at all. Of course, there is a monitoring procedure which I will not get into, but there is a monitoring procedure that is in place by our department."
"I think that Mr. Khan went through a lot and certainly what he is accused of is not what other terrorists have been accused of, but somehow involved, I think in terms of the transportation of proceeds, that sort of thing."
"But what he went through at Guantanamo Bay will certainly change an individual, but I think that he has gone through a lot of de-radicalization and rehabilitation and I think that where he is mentally based on the assessments that we have received, that it will not be an issue and I know that Belizeans are concern, we hear that concern, but at the same time we want to give assurances that we did and put everything in place to make sure there is no issue."
