Posted on 08/24/2004 12:35:22 PM PDT by Bald Eagle777
Posted on Tue, Aug. 24, 2004
Swiss Accuse Group of Backing al-Qaida
JONATHAN FOWLER
Associated Press
GENEVA - Swiss investigators have found evidence that suspected members of a group backing al-Qaida were supplying fake documents to enable collaborators to enter Switzerland and other European countries illegally, the supreme court said Tuesday.
The Federal Tribunal said one suspect, whose name was not released, was found to have links to both an unidentified al-Qaida recruiter who sent volunteers to the terror group's training camps and another unidentified individual convicted of terrorism offenses in France.
The support group also provided cell phone numbers to enable the network to make anonymous calls, the tribunal said.
The court's disclosures came in a ruling that blocked the release of a citizen of Yemen who was among 10 suspects of the alleged terrorist group arrested in Switzerland between December and May.
Although the court did not release any names, it disclosed details that investigators had previously refused to make public.
The court ruling concerned a man who was arrested in a sweep last January. Prosecutors said he was a member of a group with ties to terrorists behind a series of bombings on foreigners' residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 2003.
Five of the 10 men arrested since December have since been released after courts concluded they posed no threat. But the court said of the individual at the center of Tuesday's ruling: "At this stage of the investigation, there is sufficient suspicion of guilt" to justify his continued detention.
It also cited an "undeniable" risk that he would try to flee Switzerland, as well as fears of collusion with other suspects which could compromise future arrests and investigations in other countries, including Belgium.
The Aug. 13 ruling, released Tuesday, said the man was born in 1970, but gave no further description.
He has denied links with terrorism, although he has "not seriously contested" having helped foreigners enter Switzerland using fake identification, the court said. His lawyer Renaud Lattion, whose name was listed in the ruling, did not immediately return calls Tuesday.
The court ruling released Tuesday said the man used fake identification to enter Switzerland in 1995, and tried unsuccessfully to claim political asylum. He was allowed to remain temporarily in the Alpine country after filing an appeal against the decision.
Authorities alleged the suspect had made phone calls to an al-Qaida recruiter and held meetings with two other individuals later captured in the anti-terror sweep. One of those two people, who is also from Yemen, is believed to have handled contacts with al-Qaida; the other is suspected of masterminding operations in Switzerland, including money transfers. The ruling did not identify any of the men.
The ruling said investigators who searched the suspect's home in January found equipment for producing fake identification. They also discovered a photograph of a man convicted in France of terrorist offenses - although the ruling did not identify that individual either.
Police also found stolen credit cards and 300 "SIM" cards - thumbnail sized chips essential in most countries to activate cell phones and provide the phone number.
Swiss investigators previously have found evidence that some of the al-Qaida members involved in the Sept. 11 attacks made calls in Afghanistan and Pakistan using phones with prepaid cards bought in Switzerland. Swiss lawmakers recently closed a legal loophole which let customers purchase the cards anonymously.
The inquiry that led to the 10 arrests here was based in part on Swiss phone numbers stored in terrorists' mobile telephones found in Saudi Arabia, court documents have revealed.
In June, Swiss Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher said Swiss anti-terror investigators had concluded that Switzerland was likely used as a base for the financing and logistical support of al-Qaida, although it was not a hub for the terror group.
On Saturday, the Geneva daily Le Temps said it had obtained a classified report by a senior Swiss prosecutor establishing a link between individuals detained in Switzerland and a purported key member of the al-Qaida network. The prosecutor's office refused to comment.
According to Le Temps, the report said two of the suspects arrested in Switzerland - both originally from Yemen - were in "close contact with several key members of Osama bin Laden's movement."
The report identified one of the contacts as Abdallah al-Kini and described him as an "operational al-Qaida agent" involved in the October 2000 attack that killed 17 American sailors on the destroyer USS Cole off Yemen, as well as the Riyadh bombings. The report said al-Kini is in custody in Yemen. Al-Kini, who has not been mentioned previously by Yemeni anti-terror investigators, currently is detained there, the report said.
In other terror inquiries, Swiss authorities have blocked bank accounts containing about $27 million. They also are investigating a now-defunct Muslim financial firm which the U.S. government alleges helped fund al-Qaida.
Throw him in the slammer!
Gitmo. Get some!
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