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Terror Group Threatens French Railways (breaking)
2004-03-03
A previously unknown terror group is threatening to blow up French railway tracks unless it is paid millions of dollars, authorities said Wednesday.
"This is S.P.E.C.T.R.E. speaking! Unless you pay millions of dollars in small, unmarked bills, we will begin blowing up French railroads! Helmut, speaking for... ummm... S.P.E.C.T.R.E. — out!"
Information from the group led to the recovery on Feb. 21 of an explosive device buried in the bed of a railway line near Limoges in central France, the government said. The bomb would have been powerful enough to break a track, it said. The government had earlier urged French and international media not to report the blackmail effort to protect efforts to establish contacts with the group. But the Interior Ministry released details about the threats in a statement Wednesday after the story leaked. The group ``has sent several letters demanding an important sum of money in exchange for neutralizing several bombs it says it has laid, notably under rail lines,’’ the ministry’s statement said.
"The bombs are in place now! Unless we receive your tribute, we will begin setting them off! No one can oppose S.P.E.C.T.R.E.! Mwaahaahahahahaha!"
Police said the group threatened attacks unless it receives $4 million and euro1 million - worth $1.2 million - within days. Police do not believe the group has any connection to Islamic terror networks. Anti-terror magistrates are investigating. The Interior Ministry said the group identifies itself as AZF - the same initials as a chemical factory that exploded, killing 30 people, in southwestern France in 2001. Investigators believe that explosion was accidental. AZF ``presents itself as a ’pressure group with terrorist characteristics,’’’ the ministry’s statement said.
But we know that it's an international criminal cartel, headed with ruthless efficiency by Ernst Stavro Blofeld, aka The BFG! Blofeld reports to Helmut, who speaks for Boskone...
Police are working the case, but ``hope to do it with discretion to give themselves the maximum of chances’’ for success, the ministry said, without elaborating on the investigation.
"M. Bond, you are familiar with the operations of S.P.E.C.T.R.E.?"
"Why, yes. I've had run-ins with them in the past."
Posted by:Evert Visser

#11  One of the best things to do with terrorists [other than blowing them to flinders]] is to ridicule them. They are so desperate to be taken seriously - despite their ridiculuous pronouncements!

BTW, It has been 35 years since I read of 'Helmut Who Speaks for Boskone' and the Grey Lensman who brought him down.
Posted by: van Buskirk   2004-3-3 7:42:14 PM  

#10  What I find interesting is the group demanded over 75% of money in US DOLLARS!That's not saying there's much faith in the Euro when even terrorists don't want it.
Posted by: Stephen   2004-3-3 3:16:19 PM  

#9  Very cool A-Coward.
Posted by: Lucky   2004-3-3 12:30:44 PM  

#8  Actually, you don't have to blow up a railroad to do considerable damage to property and life. Anyone with access to a spanner and points (switches) along the high speed line from Paris to Lille could easily get the same results as blowing it up which would a lot more tricky.
Posted by: Jack is Back!   2004-3-3 12:15:55 PM  

#7  If they're French terrorists, shouldn't they just go on strike?
Posted by: Dar   2004-3-3 10:59:28 AM  

#6  Look out, kiddies. Picking up the boodle is the dangerous part.
Posted by: mojo   2004-3-3 10:55:54 AM  

#5  The "Express" (center) mag, NOT a conspiracy mag, featured a long investigation about the shadowy areas of the AZF explosion, and two others serious periodicals, "Valeurs actuelles" (right) and "Le Figaro" (center right) also presented some troubling facts, including numerous witnesses of a double explosion, the first one being at the SNPE explosive factory 60 m away, unexplored leads, suspicions of cover-ups,... something very fishy.
You must understand this was an HUGE explosion, 10 days after 9/11, that there was a presidential election next year, that everybody was (and is) scared shitless of social unrest (socialist PM's firts words after the WTC collapse were something like "let's not attack the muslim community, please, no race riots" I clearly remember this)
IMHO, there is a real doubt about the AZF chemical plant explosion, which was officially deemed an "accident at 99%" minutes after it happened ; I wouldn't be surprized by a cover-up, really. After all, french authorities have a long history of denial, think about the comical Chernobyl cloud that stopped right at the french borders...
7 reasons to doubt?
- The explosion was claimed by various organizations, including one through a fax machine hacked from the UK.
- The RG "secret police" investigated the background of one victim of tunisian origin, Hassan J., found with several layers of underwears, as per israeli suicide bombers, and discovered he was involved with "afghan" islamists. The day before the explosion, he had an argument with a trucker because of an american flag on his truck. This rapport was not exploited.
- Two autopsy results about Hassan J.
and Abder T., another arab victim, are missing, and other evidences seem to have been altered.
- Two too many, unidentified bodies found near the crater.
- No investigation about the hours before the explosion regarding Hassan J.
- The profile of Samir A., who left the plant 30 mn before the explosion on a false pretext, has a background in chemestry (but was hired 2 days ago as a janitor), and received money from a NYC bank.
- The missing 21 kg of chrome 6, which can be used an an explosive primer, and produce a white flash similar to the firts explosion described by some witnesses.

A majority of toulouse inahbitant are said to be conviced this was not an accident.

Sources : (Use babelfish or any other online translation for theses articles)
http://www.valeursactuelles.com/azf/azf.php

http://www.lexpress.fr/express/info/sciences/dossier/azf/dossier.asp?ida=370971

http://www.lexpress.fr/express/info/sciences/dossier/azf/dossier.asp?ida=374923

http://www.lexpress.fr/express/info/sciences/dossier/azf/dossier.asp?id=404644
Posted by: Anonymous coward   2004-3-3 10:12:18 AM  

#4  I wonder if this group has any ties to the Basque ETA, given that the Basque nationalists span both sides of the France/Spain border.
Posted by: rkb   2004-3-3 10:04:03 AM  

#3  http://www.spectrezine.org/resist/toulouse.htm

The court enquiry has just ended with very clear conclusions: it has swept away the idea that the cause was supposed errors in the working practices of AZF workers, a theory which would have satisfied some. It is now established that it was a matter of poor stocking conditions: humidity and decay had transformed the fertiliser into a chemical bomb.
Posted by: ed   2004-3-3 8:38:36 AM  

#2  The Interior Ministry said the group identifies itself as AZF - the same initials as a chemical factory that exploded, killing 30 people, in southwestern France in 2001. Investigators believe that explosion was accidental.

I remember this case being a pretty obvious example of terrorism.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-3-3 8:15:21 AM  

#1  probably just a bunch of kids working out of a garage who figured out the easist way to get millions was to demand it from the French.

Or maybe the state-sanctioned French channels to provide terrorists their badly needed cash have become limited and now they need to get more creative.
Posted by: B   2004-3-3 8:09:05 AM  

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