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| Europe |
| Czechs arrest scout for US terror camp |
| 2005-12-14 |
| Federal prosecutors in New York have announced the arrest in the Czech Republic of another man wanted in the Oregon terror camp case. The suspect, Oussam Kassir, was arrested Sunday in Prague, said Michael Garcia, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Kassir is charged in a criminal complaint with providing material support to terrorists for allegedly conspiring with others to establish an Islamic jihad, or holy war, training camp in rural Bly, Oregon, six years ago. Kassir, 39, a Lebanese-born Swedish national, allegedly traveled to the United States in late 1999 to scout the land and find potential recruits for the camp, which was never built. The arrest stems from a case initially brought against American James Ujaama, who pleaded guilty in 2003 and is now cooperating with the government. According to the new complaint, Kassir flew from London to New York's JFK Airport, took a bus to Seattle, Washington, and then drove a car with Ujaama to Bly. After two months at the site, Kassir told Ujaama he was not satisfied with the facilities, supplies or paltry number of recruits, according to the complaint. "He (Kassir) was not going to waste his time with such a small number of men," the complaint says. Kassir also told Ujaama he had "trained and fought jihad" in Afghanistan, al Qaeda's base before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the complaint. Another witness said Kassir "instituted perimeter patrols and passwords" during his stay at Bly and had compact disc with information about making poisons, according to the complaint. Ujaama envisioned the camp "would be a place that Muslims could attend to receive various types of training, including military-style jihad training, in preparation for a community of Muslims to move to Afghanistan," the criminal complaint says. It was an idea he proposed to Abu Hamza el-Masri, the radical Egyptian cleric with alleged al Qaeda ties who used to preach at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London and whose followers included convicted terrorists Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui. Abu Hamza is to go on trial next month in London for inciting terrorism. Abu Hamza and two other suspects in British custody -- Haroon Rashid Aswat and Mustafa Kamel Mustafa -- are charged in the terror camp case. Aswat, a British national of Indian heritage, was aide to Abu Hamza and also allegedly traveled to the United States to inspect the camp site. The United States unsealed an indictment against Aswat and Mustafa in September. It has requested their extradition. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |