Trinidad Muslims Worried About Traveling to the U.S.

Trinidad Muslims said Monday they were worried about being victimized after an alleged plot to blow up New York’s international airport was linked to Islamic militants from the Caribbean.

Radio and television stations over the weekend were flooded with phone calls from members of the Islamic community, with some accusing the media of painting a negative stereotype of Caribbean Muslims.

Inshan Ishmael, founder of the Islamic Broadcast Network told Cable News Channel 3 Early Morning Show, that his station had been flooded by calls from citizens worried about planned trips to the United States.

A non-Muslim Trinidad woman, scheduled to travel to the US next week, said she was worried about US customs officials because she had a Muslim last name.

“Now that you come from Trinidad, it is going to be hard enough but imagine traveling with a last name like Mohammed,” she told AFP, asking not to be identified.

Four suspected Islamic extremists from South America and the Caribbean face charges over the alleged terrorist plot to bomb fuel tanks and pipelines at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

The plot allegedly tapped into Jamaat Al Muslimeen, described by justice officials as an international network of Muslim extremists from the United States, Guyana and Trinidad.

The Trinidad Guardian newspaper quoted an official from a U.S. airline operating in Trinidad as saying that closer attention was being paid to travelers in transit specifically those from Guyana.