Interpol, the international police agency, issued an "international wanted persons notice" Wednesday for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq. | Boy, he's in trouble now! |
Red notices are passed along to all of Interpol's 184 member countries. They "serve to communicate to the world's police that a suspect is wanted by a member country and request that the suspect be placed under provisional arrest pending extradition," said Interpol, headquartered in Lyon, France. Al Zarqawi is wanted by U.S. and Iraqi authorities in connection with a slew of terror-related actions in Iraq and he is being sought by Jordan, where his group claimed responsibility for last month's deadly hotel attacks.
"We congratulate Algeria for being the first country to take the important step of requesting an Interpol Red Notice against al-Zarqawi," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said in a statement. "This will decrease the likelihood that such a notorious suspect will be able to evade detection." Noble said that even though al-Zarqawi is wanted for arrest in several countries, "no other country had taken the important step of authorizing Interpol to issue a Red Notice and to have it placed on Interpol's public Web site for police and general public to see the various identities used by the suspect."
| Most likely no one else figured it was worth the time to fill out the paperwork |