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| Europe |
| French Arrest Brother of U.S. Detainee |
| 2002-12-27 |
| A man detained this week has been identified as the brother of an al-Qaida suspect imprisoned by the United States and is suspected of being the leader of a cell planning terror attacks in France, judicial officials said Friday. Menad Benchellali, who had been sought by France's intelligence agency DST, was one of four alleged Islamic militants apprehended in a suburb of Paris this week. The DST believes Benchellali trained at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and Chechnya, said judicial officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Let's just pick up anyone who has been to both places The officials said he was the brother of 21-year-old Mourad Benchellali, who was arrested in January in Pakistan and transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States is holding detainees in the global war on terror. Another family terror group. Investigators said the four suspects arrested Tuesday in the northern Paris suburb of Romainville were part of a terror cell that included four others apprehended last week in the nearby suburb of La Courneuve. In both sweeps, police found evidence of possible bomb-making materials. The arrests came as part of an investigation by French anti-terrorism judges into networks that filter extremists into Chechnya, the officials said. In the raid in Romainville, which police announced Thursday, counterterrorism agents found electronic components, a motorcycle battery, a remote control that could operate via mobile phone and an unidentified substance hidden in hair treatment bottles, justice officials said. The equipment and substances were being analyzed by government experts. The raid in La Courneuve turned up a suit to protect against chemical and biological attacks and radiation, a video camera, two empty gas canisters and false identity papers. Also found were diagrams of formulas that could be used for a chemical attack, judicial officials said. The suspects from La Courneuve also had liquids in small vials that the Interior Ministry later said was a mixture used to connect electronic components, and ferric chloride, which is commonly used for soldering electronic circuits. A ninth man believed to have ties to the group, Nourredine Merbet, was put under investigation Tuesday for alleged association with terror groups. Say what you will about the French, their secert service does a good job when you turn them loose. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Not to mention Greenpeace. |
| Posted by: Steve 2002-12-27 13:51:07 |
| #1 Yassss, just ask the Jews who were under the Vichy regime how well the French Secret Agencies work. . . |
| Posted by: Brian 2002-12-27 13:05:20 |