LA gang members in Syria video identified by customs officers as deported Syrians

LOS ANGELES, March 7 (UPI) -- U.S. authorities identified two men claiming to be Los Angeles-based gang members who say they are fighting in Syria as Syrian nationals who were deported from the U.S.

Glendale Police Department Sgt. Tom Lorenz provided records to CNN identifying one of the men as Nercis Kilajian, an ethnic Armenian who was deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2012. Lorenz confirmed that Madarin was a member of the Grumpy Winos gang. The other man is Sarou Madarian who was deported by ICE to Syria in 2010.

In the expletive-laced video posted to You Tube, Madarian calls himself a "Creeper" in the Sun Valley GW-13 gang. He intermittently uses Spanish words, giving the impression he is Latino. Both men fire AK-47s toward unseen "enemigos."

The Middle East Media Research Institute publicized the video earlier this week. Executive Director Steven Stalinsky explained the Institute's interest in the video: "This is very unique because these guys are over there, and they are with the pro-Syria forces and pro-Hezbollah forces... We have been monitoring foreign fighters over the years, and there has been a handful of Americans going to fight, but they have been going to fight against Assad."

[CNN]