Posted on 06/08/2004 7:50:05 AM PDT by beebuster2000
MILAN, Italy (Reuters) - Italy arrested an Egyptian man considered to be a mastermind of the Madrid train bombings in the first Europe-wide swoop on Islamic militants linked to the March attack, judicial sources said Tuesday.
"Mohamed the Egyptian" was seized after a three-month probe by Italy's anti-terrorist unit and Italian intelligence and he was thought to be the head of a Moroccan radical Islamist cell, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said
Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said militants had been planning more attacks as police swooped as part of an operation across Europe. He said the swoop was aimed at a group "close to al Qaeda."
Police in Milan arrested Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," and another man as part of cross-border raids into the March 11 bombings that killed 191 people in the Spanish capital, the judicial sources said.
Ahmed was considered "one of the masterminds" of the Madrid bombings, a Spanish Interior Ministry spokesman said.
"Raids are under way in Belgium, Spain and France as well as in Italy," an Italian judicial source said. Another judicial source said: "It is coordinated at the European level."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The Europeans seem to make a lot more arrests of terrorists than we do; is that because they have more terrorists to catch, or better police and intelligence agencies? Or is my premise wrong, and we are in fact catching a lot of terrorists?
IMHO, I think we are catching quite a few, but keeping silent about it.
here in the US we are too busy screening grandma and pregnant white females...cant be bothered by profiling young islamic bearded males...wouldnt be PC, you know
The Capt.
That's what I think as well. Why tip off other terrorists?
There will come a day when the US & euroweenies have had enough explosions & killings, that Middle Easterner's will be exiled to their homelands until their respective countries can either get a grip on their own people or live in isolation. I bet the pc euroweenies do it first! That day will be none too soon for me!
I bet they racially profiled to find him.
Your question is confusing.
Just exactly how many terrorist train bombings have occured in the U.S.? A lack of actual terrorist acts seems to be the primary reason our capture rate is lower than that in Europe.
More here.
Belgium arrests 15 in anti-terror swoop
Reuters ^ | 6/8/04
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1149791/posts
Apparantly they had this guy under surveillance for some time but decided to arrest them because there is an Italian election in a few days. Italy didn't want to chance a "Spain-thang happening."
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