| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Europe | |
| French prisoner was studying poisons | |
| 2004-01-11 | |
| A man arrested in an anti-terrorism sweep a year ago was studying how to make poisons and had hoped to produce the deadly toxin ricin, French authorities said Saturday. Menad Benchellali, who was arrested in December 2002, had tested toxins on animals in Central Asia. The official confirmed details that appeared in Saturday’s Le Monde newspaper. The details about Benchellali’s background came from suspects, mostly family members, who were taken in for interrogation over the past few days. Under questioning by police, suspects acknowledged that Benchellali had hoped to concoct a botulism toxin and ricin, a highly toxic substance derived from castor beans that has no antidote, the official said. Le Monde reported that authorities don’t know whether Benchellali succeeded. Benchellali was arrested in a sweep that authorities said thwarted planned bomb or toxic gas attacks against Russian targets in Paris, including the Russian Embassy. One of his brothers, Mourad, is among six French detainees suspected of ties to al-Qaida who are being held at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The sweep was part of a probe into suspected links between Islamic militants and rebels in Russia’s breakaway largely Muslim republic of Chechnya. Investigators are trying to determine whether the Benchellali family and friends supplied explosives, false papers, money and lodgings to a terror cell that planned to attack Russian targets in Paris, probably with chemical weapons. Benchellali’s father, Chellali, an Islamic cleric, was taken into custody Tuesday at his home in a tough neighborhood of Venissieux, a suburb of Lyon. Others taken in for questioning included Menad Benchellali’s mother; a brother, Hafed; and a sister, Anissa. Anissa Benchellali was released Saturday, as was Fatna Merabet, the wife of another jailed religious leader, according to their lawyer, Jacques Debray. Six others still being held are expected to be presented before a judge on Monday in Paris. A woman who answered the phone at the Benchellali family home declined to comment on the Le Monde report. "We’re all still in shock," said Amel Benchellali, who said she was a daughter of the imam. Also Saturday, about 150 people protested in Venissieux to criticize police handling of the arrests. Muslim organizations had asked people to gather in the area’s market square, and organizers read a statement calling the arrest of Benchellali and six others "a message to intimidate all France’s Muslims." A banner read: "Tomorrow, who will be next?"
| |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Ah, Muslims. Incapable of comprehending that some of them might be assholes, they protest every little arrest and every little accusation. Up until the moment the evidence comes out, then they declare the guilty "weren't real Muslims". Once the convicts are in prison, though, you can bet they'll have a nice market in inspirational tapes. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-11 9:00:35 AM |
| #1 "Tomorrow, who will be next?" Who indeed? Maybe they should think about that before planning to attack the infidel. But then, cause and effect isn't covered in the quran, is it? |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-1-11 1:02:29 AM |