| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa: Subsaharan |
| "Pavarotti" arrested for terrorism |
| 2004-05-28 |
| Posting this since Dan is having trouble accessing Rantburg One of several al-Qaeda members secretly rounded up in South Africa around the time of the elections, a Jordanian dubbed "Pavarotti" for his huge frame and ponytail, left a wife in Cape Town after a marriage of convenience. When authorities traced him to his Bellville home, he fled the Western Cape, leaving behind the young blonde, a sandwich seller in the city, whom he paid R1 000 a month to be his wife in name only. The arrests here sparked further arrests of people allegedly linked to al-Qaeda in Jordan, Syria and Britain, national Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi told parliament’s safety and security committee yesterday. Today it emerged that the suspect dubbed Pavarotti had been based in Cape Town. The others were arrested five days before the April 14 polls, but "Pavarotti" was arrested a few days afterwards. All those seized were apparently finally deported. Investigators had tracked the wife down, but she apparently had little contact with him and could not help them in the hunt. A source close to the man said he had frequented a Sudanese restaurant in the city where he was known as a "deeply religious worshipper". News about the arrest of "Pavarotti" and his al-Qaeda links sent shockwaves through the closely knit Middle Eastern community in Cape Town. The source said the man lived in Bellville but also stayed in Mitchell’s Plain for brief spells. City detectives took part in an intelligence-driven operation, which paid off when their Gauteng counterparts nabbed "Pavarotti" as he arrived in Johannesburg. Although he remained on the run until after the elections, Cape Town police played a leading role in a nationwide operation which may have foiled an al Qaeda-linked plot to disrupt the elections. Selebi told the safety and security panel: "We arrested some people who had evil intentions against this country - we did not tell anybody - five days before the election. The result is that you saw in Jordan, in and around those days, a number of people arrested who were called al- Qaeda. A number of people were (also) arrested in Syria as a result of our operation," Selebi said. The police operation had extended to Britain. "In part of this operation, in London, the British police found boxes and boxes of South African passports in the home of one of these people, or an associate of these people, which says to me there must be a link that people are able to acquire these documents," Selebi said. Selebi said that "we got these people to leave" - possibly indicating they had been deported or extradited. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |