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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan Police Raid Al Qaeda-Linked Locations |
| 2004-05-25 |
| Japanese police raided on Wednesday about 10 locations believed to have ties to al Qaeda, marking the country’s first investigation of anyone suspected of having links with the group, domestic media said. The searches follow revelations last week that a French national linked to the al Qaeda network and wanted by Interpol had lived in Japan for several months after entering the country on a false passport in 2002. Wednesday’s investigation was conducted against individuals who had ties with the Frenchman, including a Bangladeshi man who police suspect has links to an Islamic group in Pakistan seeking independence for the Kashmir region. Police intended to arrest a number of foreigners for allegedly violating immigration laws, and a Bangladeshi and a Mali national had already been detained, Kyodo news agency said. Lionel Dumont, a French national of Algerian descent who was arrested last December in Germany, was believed to have been involved in delivering equipment and funds to al Qaeda during his stay in Japan, media reports have said. Dumont, 33, had lived in Niigata, northwest of Tokyo, with his German wife from July 2002 until September 2003 and often traveled between Japan, Malaysia and Germany, media said. Working with Pakistani colleagues, Dumont also sold used cars to Russia and North Korea during his stay in Niigata, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said. Dumont had been wanted by Interpol in connection with various incidents including an attempted bomb attack against the Group of Seven summit in Lyon, France in June 1996, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 in his absence. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #1 If he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and was arrested in Germany in December 2003, then why was he walking around free in Japan recently? |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-05-26 12:52:16 AM |