Non-Subscriber Extract
Strikes target Bin Laden networks in Europe
- Article Tools
| 11 April 2001 |
Over the last week a series of strikes have been carried out in European cities as activity is stepped up against a suspected terrorist network linked to the Saudi billionaire Usama Bin Ladin.
Last Thursday (April 5), five members suspected of being part of an extremist Islamist cell were arrested in Milan, in an operation that coincided with the arrest at Frankfurt of a suspected Islamist operative and an investigation on the island of Cyprus for suspected bank accounts intended to finance the purchase and transportation of weaponry for terrorist activity on the European mainland.
Milan the link
After a dawn raid conducted by the Italian police in Milan, five suspects, all of North African origin, were arrested in a bid to break up the 'nerve centre' of an extremist Islamic group planning bomb attacks in Europe, and having links with Bin Ladin.
The Milan raids bring to 18 the total number of arrests made in a series of European operations, including four suspects at London's Heathrow airport in February. Investigators believe another 17 suspects are still on the run.
Included in this number are three Tunisians, believed to have entered Britain and suspected by the British police of having close links to the Algerian group commanded by Hasan Hattab, and known as al-Jama'a al-Salafiyya lil-Da'wa wal-Qatal ('The Salafist Group for Call and Combat'). It is believed that they have received training in Afghanistan with Bin Ladin's al-Qa'ida organisation.
The investigating magistrate in Milan, Stefano d'Ambrosio, said the Italian cell may have links to other 40 or 50 other members in Europe and added: "This figure only indicates the number of activists who themselves recruit potential followers" and that "it is impossible to state just how many these people are managing to recruit." D'Ambrosio remarked that it is therefore impossible to establish the extent of the network of such cells in Europe but that "it is surely not the only one".
Meanwhile German police arrested at Frankfurt airport an Algerian national named Hassan K. It is thought that he is a member of a group planning a bomb attack in Strasbourg.
The hunt is on in Britain
The most interesting result from the Milan raid was the seizure of tapes and documents that point to the Milan cell's role as a staging post for terror groups linked with Bin Ladin and operating in France, Britain and Germany. The tapes feature the voices of two of the group watching videos of Chechen mujahidin in action against Russian soldiers, during which time they discuss the arrest of Abu Duha whom the British police had arrested at Heathrow Airport for bearing a false passport. His arrest followed the appearance of his London telephone number during investigations in the United States carried out after the arrest of an Algerian, Ahmad Rassam, whom the Los Angeles Court had prosecuted on nine charges associated with the 'Millennium Plot'.
Surveillance of telephone conversations with members of the Milan group record conversations between members abroad, including with 'Umar Mahmud Abu 'Umar, an Islamic cleric and political refugee in Britain since 1993 and known to the authorities under the name Abu Qatada. Jordan has so far unsuccessfully requested his extradition on grounds of terrorist activity in that country, and he is described as 'Bin Ladin's roving ambassador in Europe'
The arrests have prompted British police to hunt for a further 17 members of Bin Ladin's cell in the United Kingdom, in particular the three Tunisians.
Cyprus
Meanwhile, last Sunday Cypriot authorities in Nicosia announced they were examining the matter of bank accounts said to have been opened by Bin Ladin for the purpose of financing terrorist operations. Attorney General Alekos Markides has instructed the specialist anti money- laundering unit to initiate investigations.
It is noteworthy that a former member of the Bin Ladin network, Sudanese national Jamal Ahmad al-Fadl, had declared during his trial in New York on 6 February that the network had opened bank accounts in Cyprus, which they considered a safe base for the purpose of buying and shipping weapons. Markides opined that the Sudanese 'penitent' may have been alluding to the network as having deposited money in the northern (Turkish occupied) sector of the island, which since 1974 has been divided into two parts. The announcement to initiate the investigation comes as a result of pressure from Washington, according to a report by the Greek Cypriot paper 'Aletheia'.
Grievous danger
Commenting on the arrest of Islamists at Frankfurt suspected of membership of the al-Qa'ida organisation, German Interior Minister Otto Schily earmarked Islamic terrorism as posing "a grievous danger for Germany". In an interview for the magazine Der Spiegel, Schiely said that the government is expending all efforts to cast light on these complex networks which have international branches. The head of the German intelligence services added that the appearance of Bin Ladin's group in Germany constitutes the "greatest challenge to the fight against terrorism".
Impossible to eradicate
The number of suspected Islamist activists arrested in Europe after the breaking of the Milan cell totals 18. However, despite the present spate of successes, the Italian magistrate was not overly optimistic. D'Ambrosio said that the operation to uproot such organisations will be very difficult since they have the ability to reconstitute, and that "Islamist terror in Europe is a phenomenon which sinks its roots in such a way as to enable it to continually renew itself."