Posted on 11/09/2003 5:00:59 PM PST by aculeus
Australian authorities now fear that suspected al-Qa'ida bomber Willie Brigitte may have been plotting attacks against Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, or military sites such as the Garden Island Naval base and Holsworthy army barracks.
ASIO, which conducted secret hearings last week at the Sydney offices of the Australian Crime Commission, has spent the past two weeks building a case against Brigitte, and has reaffirmed initial suspicions that he was a skilled bomb-maker sent to Australia to commit a serious terrorist act.
It is understood another man was interrogated by ASIO under new national anti-terrorist laws on Saturday, bringing to two the number of Brigitte's Australian associates exposed to the commission's coercive powers.
Brigitte's potential interest in strategic nuclear and military sites has been discussed at length in at least one of the hearings. However, it is not clear whether it was as a worst-case scenario or stemmed from a fact-based piece of intelligence.
One of the men questioned by ASIO officers and the Australian Federal Police over the past two weeks has been allegedly linked to the banned Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organisation. He has strenuously denied being either a member of the group or a sympathiser.
Audits of telephone calls have shown that contact was made between people in Pakistan who are of interest to Western intelligence agencies and members of the Islamic community in Sydney.
ASIO and the AFP have spoken to all those contacted, and each of them has stressed they were simply asked to help a fellow Muslim who was new to Sydney.
The Weekend Australian revealed that Brigitte had adopted the name Gibriel during his five months in Sydney, and had worked as a general duties employee at the Island Dreams halal cafe in the Sydney CBD. Management of the cafe refused yesterday to discuss anything about the former employee.
One of the men raided by ASIO two weeks ago introduced Brigitte to the cafe owners but claims he did so merely in his role as a member of the Islamic Information Centre, which provides support for new Muslim arrivals. The federal Government has refused to confirm or deny The Weekend Australian's revelation on Saturday that ASIO's interrogation powers were used last week for the first time. The man under suspicion was questioned in two separate eight-hour blocks but was allowed to go. No one has yet been detained under the new anti-terror laws.
ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson told a Senate estimates hearing last week: "What I can say is that Brigitte was almost certainly involved in activities with the intention of doing harm within Australia, but there are many unanswered questions."
Mr Richardson said information gathered by French investigators since Brigitte was returned to France on October 9 had strengthened that assessment.
It has since been revealed that authorities believe two of Brigitte's Australian associates developed bomb-making expertise during the time the French national was in the country.
Police have discounted a theory espoused in Brigitte's French intelligence dossier that he was sent here to shelter a bomb-maker.
Instead, they believe he had the bomb-making expertise himself and was very likely in Sydney to try to establish a terror cell.
Authorities are continuing to look for other potential Australian targets that may have been of interest to Brigitte.
ASIO is expected to continue to use its new powers at the Australian Crime Commission, where hearings are conducted by what is referred to as a prescribed authority: a retired, or serving member of the Federal or Supreme Court bench, or of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
© The Australian
A little Google and ....
Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W), during the course of meditation in the Mount of Hira, - which is a hillock measuring about 12 feet long, 6 feet wide and 6 feet high, situated on the east of Makka (old name Bakka), about 3 miles away on one side of Meena in Jable Noor, - met for the first time Hadrath Gibriel, who, after introducing himself , conveyed him the glad tidings that Allah had chosen him as His Apostle. This miraculous event occurred on the 9th Rabiu'l Awwal, or on Monday, the 12th of Rabiu'l Awwal (12th February 610 A.D.) when the Prophet was 40 years and 11 days old.
Thereafter, it was on the 18th of Ramadhan, Friday night (17th August 610 A.D.), that in the same cave of Hira,Hadrath Gibriel apeared in his true form for the second time and made him to repeat the following five verses of Sura 'IQRAA':(96:1 to 5)
Media Statement - 7 November 2003
Today's revelation that Willie Brigitte had made a successful application to the French Consulate in Sydney for a replacement passport in May, clearly establishes that French authorities were aware of his presence here four months before alerting Australian security services.
This is despite the fact Brigitte was on a security alert list in France.
The revelation also flatly contradicts assurances by the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Attorney-General that France had alerted Australia to Brigitte's presence as soon as it became known Brigitte was in Australia.
Hmmmmm.
Indeed! France continues it's methods of subversion and treachery.
Prairie
The french national helped him??
They mean Brigitte, a French national, originally from the French Caribbean and (natch) a moslem.
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