Pirates of the Caribbean

Suspects of the plot to blow up JFK airport had Caribbean connections. Chris Zambelis at Jamestown Foundation describes al-Qaeda's attempts to use the Islamic immigrant groups, drug smuggling routes, money laundering and illiegal imigration routes to create a highway of access into the United States.

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Security threats emanating from the Caribbean Basin typically revolve around its position as a key trans-shipment point for South American narcotics to the United States and Europe, as well as illegal immigration, money laundering, and other forms of banking and document fraud. Indeed, organized criminal networks from as far away as Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Asia, in addition to U.S. and South American organizations, have a formidable presence in the region.

Update: "Al Qaeda's reported nuclear whiz kid — a "tantalizing terror figure" with a $5 million bounty on his head — was the figure investigators had hoped to snag in their 18-month probe of a plot to blow up a New York airport, the New York Post reported Monday." (Fox News)