puls
28.12.02, 03:00
Czytajcie co muzulmanie-arabstwo chce zrobic zabojadom i Rosjanom.
Dec. 27, 2002
French terror suspects include brother of a Guantanamo detainee
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS - French authorities have dismantled a terror cell with ties to
Chechen rebels and high-level al-Qaida operatives that had been plotting
bomb or toxic gas attacks in France and elsewhere, the Interior Ministry
said Friday.
Among suspected targets were Russian interests in France, especially the
Russian Embassy in Paris and Russians in Chechnya, the ministry said in a
two-page statement.
The announcement followed the arrests Tuesday of four alleged Islamic
militants in suburban Paris, culminating a weeklong sweep in which nine
suspects were detained by France's counter-intelligence agency, the DST.
"At this stage of the investigation, we can surmise that the operational
group in France has been dismantled and the plot it was preparing has been
thwarted," the statement said.
Counter-terrorism agents have carried out at least a half-dozen raids,
mainly in suburban Paris, in the last month as part of French efforts to
guard against a possible attack during the holidays.
Among those taken into custody was Frenchman Menad Benchellali who sent both
his brother and another man to train in Afghanistan in 2001. Both men were
captured by the United States and are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Benchellali family has filed a complaint, accusing Washington of
detaining Mourad Benchellali illegally and has asked to see him. US
officials have refused.
Also captured was Algerian Merouane Benahmed, a former militant with the
radical Algerian insurgency movement the Armed Islamic Group and an expert
in bomb-making and electronics, the ministry said.
Benahmed, Menad Benchellali and a third suspect, Nourredine Merabet, trained
with Chechen rebels and met "high-level al-Qaida operatives" in Georgia's
Pankisi Gorge, near its border with Russia, according to the ministry.
The suspects had targeted Russian interests in France to "avenge" the death
of Chechen leaders fighting against Russian forces and the killing of
Chechen hostage-takers who led a failed raid on a Moscow theater in October,
the ministry said.
In the roundup, four suspects were apprehended on Tuesday in the Paris
suburb of Romainville, four others were captured Dec. 16 in the nearby town
of La Courneuve, and Merabet was seized over the weekend on the French-
Spanish border.
Under questioning, one of the suspects confessed to having practiced
building bombs with the goal of targeting Russians in Chechnya and Israelis
in the Middle East, the ministry said.
Another person, not identified but apparently not among those arrested,
confirmed the account and said that the Russian Embassy in Paris was among
likely targets, the ministry statement said.
The ministry said one of the suspects, who was not identified, had a
background in chemistry and had spent time in Afghanistan and in Georgia in
2001.
That suspect admitted to having drafted a list found in the Tuesday raid in
Romainville that contained the names of chemicals and the price to buy a
desired quantity of each one, the ministry's statement said.
The raids also turned up diagrams of chemical formulas for explosives and a
substance that, when subjected to heat or put in contact with water, would
let off a highly toxic gas, judicial officials said.
In Tuesday's operation, counter-terrorism agents also found electronic
components, a motorcycle battery, a remote control that could operate via
mobile phone and an unidentified substance hidden in hair treatment bottles,
the officials said.
The equipment and substances were being analyzed by government experts.
The La Courneuve raid turned up a suit to protect against chemical and
biological attacks and radiation, two empty gas canisters, false identity
papers and electronic equipment. Electronic systems, "which were
operational," were made "to ignite explosives from a distance with the aid
of cell phones," the Interior Ministry said.
On alert for possible terror strikes during the holiday season, the French
government has increased police presence in public areas such as department
stores and train stations.
Arabstwo odplaca za goscine !!!!!!
