Posted on 06/08/2004 7:59:42 PM PDT by blam
Egyptian bombs expert held over Madrid outrage
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels
(Filed: 09/06/2004)
An explosives expert said to be one of the masterminds behind the Madrid train bombings was arrested in Italy yesterday Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian", was seized in Milan as he was planning more outrages, said Giuseppe Pisanu, the Italian interior minister..
Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed: conversations
At least 16 other suspected Islamic extremists were arrested in a co-ordinated series of raids in Italy, Belgium, France and Spain.
The attacks in March in Madrid killed 191 people and wounded 1,900.
Mr Pisanu said the suspect was "preparing other attacks" and was about to leave the country.
Ahmed is a former Egyptian army explosives expert who gave courses at al-Qa'eda training camps in Afghanistan, judicial authorities alleged.
He is believed to have helped to recruit the Madrid bombing team at mosques in Spain.
The Italians had been following him for three months, using electronic eavesdropping equipment.
Maurizio Romanelli, the investigating magistrate, said the intercepted conversations contained "very significant references" to the Madrid attacks.
He said Ahmed was seized with an unidentified man, who said he was a Palestinian. Prosecutors had feared they might be about to leave the country.
An Italian source said wiretapped conversations between the two included the repeated words: "Let's go. We are ready for martyrdom."
Ahmed is also heard talking about the bomb cell that committed suicide in a Madrid apartment rather than surrender to police.
"Those in Spain are my friends but I am sad because I cannot go to heaven with them," he said.
Mr Romanelli told a news conference: "They were highly mobile and we could not afford to wait."
He said any attack would probably have been outside Italy. Both Ahmed and the other man were accused of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.
A further 15 suspected Islamic radicals, including Jordanians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Moroccans, were arrested by Belgian police in Brussels and Antwerp after warnings that they were planning a terrorist strike, probably "abroad".
Javier Solana, the European Union security chief, said the joint operations showed what Europe could achieve if all countries pooled police and intelligence resources.
At a meeting of EU interior ministers yesterday, he won broad backing for plans to strengthen his intelligence nerve-centre in Brussels. EU officials insisted that it would not be a "Euro-CIA".
Ironically, Italy was one of the countries "named and shamed" yesterday by EU ministers for failing to implement a number of anti-terrorism and criminal justice measures agreed after the September 11 attacks.
The proposals include an EU-wide arrest warrant.
It is widely suspected that Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has been dragging his feet on the arrest warrant because he is under investigation in Spain for financial irregularities.
The 32 offences covered by the EU-wide warrant include fraud, as well as such vague offences as xenophobia.
The Spanish-Italian teamwork this week appears to show that the EU warrant may be less crucial to the fight against terrorism than is often claimed by Brussels.
The worst offender on yesterday's shame list was Greece, which has failed to implement all five of the agreed counter-terrorism measures.
Ping.
The coming summer Olympics have the potential of being a real "blast." When I was young, back when rocks had not fully cooled, Greece was viewed as a "kool" country. How time flies.
Berlusconi is unfortunately quite right to be suspicious of Euro justice. The Socialists have a bad habit of persecuting conservatives. It outrages them that someone like Berlusconi should be in office.
Bump!
woo hoo, an article by my namesake.
The result of a deal between that lawyer in Oregon (whose 15 point print match on the plastic bag was an 'error') and the investigators? Plausible, m'thinks.
In fact, all of Europe, especially France and Germany need to acknowledge their own faults in bringing down terrorists attacks.
In Germany it's probably those silly little green leather shorts the men wear.
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