LONDONâs key role as a command and control centre for Al-Qaedaâs European network since the September 11 terrorist attacks is revealed in leaked police transcripts. The documents, which form part a court case in Milan, detail bugged discussions between Al-Qaeda members on how to recruit and train new contingents of terrorists in Europe. The papers, translated and released by a branch of the American State Department, are the result of an 18-month investigation into Al-Qaedaâs overhaul of its European arm in the wake of September 11. The transcripts reveal that in June 2002 London was considered to be âthe nerve centreâ of the European network. Members could be smuggled in and out of Britain on false passports with apparent ease.
| Something for Mr. Blunkett to work on, I'd think... |
By March last year, however, a suspect recorded in an Italian police cell said that the British capital had become a âdangerousâ place. Although senior members of the network have been arrested in Italy, Germany and Britain, officials said last week that the London cell of Osama Bin Ladenâs organisation was still active and was being closely monitored.
| The result of their chats with Abu Qatada, perhaps? |
A Home Office spokesman said the admission that London had become more dangerous was a sign that the 500 arrests made in Britain since September 11 had âtaken their tollâ on the Al-Qaeda network.
| That's always nice to hear. Feedback keeps the spirits up... |
The court documents, part of the trial of seven Al-Qaeda suspects, reveal that after September 11 the network began to train a new army of suicide units, codenamed Force 9. Investigators say more than 200 terrorists were recruited. The man said to be the strategic brain behind the European network is Abu Musab Zarqawi, an Al-Qaeda leader who is believed to be based in Iran and is thought to have masterminded the suicide attacks in Turkey in November.
| Quick, Ethel! My pills! The surprise... Gah! |
According to one bugged conversation, the new recruits were mostly north Africans but also included middle-class Europeans. Some were described as âhighly cultured foreignersâ â non-Arabs.
| Not the usual Paks and other riff-raff... |
This profile matches that of Asif Hanif, 21, the British-born Asian student from Birmingham who blew himself up in a Tel Aviv nightclub in 2003, killing three people. Investigators believe that recent arrests have shut down recruitment for Al-Qaeda in western Europe although they suggest it may simply have moved eastwards to less efficiently policed countries.
That jives with the transcripts that Alphabet City had up and once again, we see that Zarqawiâs the pivot guy. |