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Europe

French Detain Nine in Anti-Terror Sweep

2005-09-27

French anti-terrorism police arrested nine people Monday suspected of planning attacks, including an Islamic militant previously convicted on terrorism charges and freed from prison two years ago.

That worked well, didn't it?

Authorities said the arrest of Safe Bourada, who had been under surveillance since his release in 2003, highlights potential risks posed by unrepentant militants being freed after serving prison sentences in connection with bombings in the 1990s.

They needed highlighting?

The nine were picked up in early morning raids west of Paris and in Evreux, 55 miles northwest of the French capital. Police in black hoods marched the suspects, their heads hidden under clothing, their arms pinned behind their backs, to waiting cars and carried out boxes of what appeared to be seized documents. Police trained to deal with chemical and biological agents were on standby â although none were found in subsequent searches, said a police official.

Investigators suspect Bourada, 35, was putting together a cell that intended to carry out attacks in France, the official said. The nine suspects initially will be kept for four days of questioning, which is expected to determine whether they had selected specific targets, the official said. Bourada was among 36 Islamic militants sentenced in February 1998 for providing support for bomb attacks that terrorized France in 1995. Bourada received the maximum 10-year sentence but won early release in 2003, the police official said. He said others in the group arrested Monday have also served jail time but not on terrorism-related charges.

Just your everyday crooks...

A judicial official said the nine are suspected of links with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, a militant Algerian movement that has declared allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network and which is known by its French initials GSPC. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because French law bars disclosing information from judicial investigations. But the police official said any link appeared tenuous and that there is no clear indication that Bourada was acting on orders from the militant group or in its name. In an Internet posting in August, the group urged its sympathizers to act against French interests, said terrorism expert Jean-Luc Marret, author of "The Factories of Jihad."

He said Monday's arrests highlighted the potential risks posed by militants whose prison terms from the 1990s have come, or are coming to, an end. Specific figures were unavailable, but Marret estimated there are 30 to 40 such militants. "Because France started arresting these people ... because we faced this threat in 1995, then by definition the first jihadists coming out of prison are in France and these people have not necessarily changed their minds," said Marret.

Other recently released militants have also come to investigators' attention, said the police official. France is working on bolstering its already tough counterterrorism laws. An anti-terrorism bill to go before the French Cabinet next month would double the maximum penalty in the most common charge applied in terrorism cases to 20 years' imprisonment.

Bourada was formerly linked to the Armed Islamic Group, an Algerian group that claimed responsibility for some of the 1995 attacks. They began July 25, 1995, when a bomb exploded in a subway train at the St. Michel station in the Latin quarter. In all, nine people were killed and more than 200 wounded in the campaign to pressure France to cut ties with Algeria's military-backed government.

Separately, in Italy, authorities on Monday conducted raids of apartments and offices linked to 11 Algerians suspected of sending money to the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. No arrests were made. Algeria's government this weekend also announced the arrest of several Tunisians and five Moroccans suspected of membership in the militant group, Algerian media reported Monday.

Posted by:Fred

#2 Oh, goody. At least it's a change from the '90s, when French terrorists were in the habit of tossing bombs at the outdoor cafes as they drove past on their chic little motorcycles.

Good find, lotp.

Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-27 17:17

#1 From Expatica, it appears they were targeting airports, subways and the domestic intel offices in Paris:

Terrorist suspects eyed Paris Metro, airport as targets

PARIS, Sept 27 (AFP) - Suspected Islamic militants being questioned for a second day by anti-terrorist investigators had been looking at the Paris metro system, an airport and the headquarters of France's domestic intelligence service as targets, officials said Tuesday.

Nine people were detained in a series of dawn raids Monday in poor neighbourhoods of towns west of Paris. Officials said they were members of the Algerian Islamist organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

Suspicions over their intentions were based on telephone intercepts from Algeria, investigators said. However they said there was no evidence that an actual plan of attack was being formulated.

Monday's arrests came as interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled details of a new anti-terrorism law that is to be put to the French cabinet next month.

Speaking on national television, Sarkozy said that the terrorist threat in France was "at a very high level ... There are cells operating on our territory."

"New York, Madrid, London. Inevitably one thinks of Paris, Berlin, Rome. The designated targets are the democracies," Sarkozy said.

Suspected terrorist cell raided by French police

Sarkozy defends tough new anti-terror law

Metro bomber may finally be extradited to France

Sarkozy's draft law, which was drawn up after the July suicide bombings in London, authorises greatly increased video-surveillance in towns and cities as well as improved police access to Internet and mobile telephone records.

It will also oblige travel companies to provide the authorities with personal details of passengers, and increases the maximum sentence for terrorist association to 30 years.

"The first freedom is the freedom to take the metro or the bus without fearing for one's life," Sarkozy said.

Investigators have till Friday to question the nine detainees, after which they must be released or brought before an anti-terrorist judge.

Among those being held was Safe Bourada, 35, who was released from prison in 2003 after serving five years for helping organise a series of bomb attacks that killed nine people in France in 1995.

At his trial in 1997, Bourada was described as an important link with the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the Algerian formation that was the main anti-government force during the country's long Islamic insurgency. The GSPC was born from a split in the GIA.

The investigation leading to Monday's arrests began when the newly-released Bourada was placed under surveillance, and there was a breakthrough two months ago when police made the chance arrest of a group of men holding up a Moroccan prostitute, officials said.

Investigators discovered these men had links with former members of the GIA, they said.

A week ago anti-terrorist police arrested six men in the northern Paris suburbs suspected of recruiting volunteers to fight against US forces in Iraq. They were all released without charge after the four days of questioning which is the maximum the law allows.

Posted by: lotp 2005-09-27 08:44

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