The Egyptian police stopped a group of 135 illegal immigrants from making the journey from the Egyptian coast to Italy crossing the Mediterranean. According to the Saudi newspaper al-Watan, Egyptian security sources said that the police on Monday said that 135 Egyptians, mainly young people, were attempting to make the journey to enter Italy illegally.
The illegal immigrants had made arrangements with a fisherman in an area on the Egyptian coast to make the journey with one of his fishing boats that was no longer in use. The police had been tipped off about the illegal immigrants and caught them as they were attempting to make the journey.
Most would-be immigrants attempting the perilous sea journey hail from North Africa to Europe, mainly choose the southern island of Sicily as their destination though the tiny island of Lampedusa, the first Italian territory to be reached by boats from Tunisia or Libya, is also a key destination.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.374566194&par=0
Afghanistan-Pakistan: End War Of Words And Fight The Taliban, Says U.N.
9 Jan.2007
A senior United Nations official in Afghanistan has called on the Afghan and Pakistani governments to end their mutual recriminations and cooperate in fighting the Taliban insurgency in the south of the war-torn country, saying it is being fuelled from both sides of the border and urging greater action against the rebellion in Pakistan itself.
SNIP:He stressed that of the 142 Taliban leaders mentioned in Security Council Resolution 1267 of 1999, which slapped sanctions on Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives and associates, only a handful have been captured, reconciled with the new government or their whereabouts otherwise established, due to a lack of international cooperation.
Excerpted
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.374538420&par=0
POLICE investigating an alleged terrorist plot using stolen Australian army rocket launchers are close to arresting more suspects, including a member of Australia's biggest outlaw motorcycle gang.
The Rebels bikie from Sydney's southwest is one of several people suspected of playing a part in a stolen weapons trail leading to alleged Sydney arms dealer Taha Abdulrahman and his clients - one of whom is a terror suspect.
It is believed that police are close to making a number of further arrests in connection with the illegal sale of the anti-tank weapons which police allege were intended to be used to attack targets including the American Express headquarters in Sydney.
Mr Abdulrahman, 28, was arrested and charged on Friday with 17 offences, including unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised supply of a prohibited weapon. The charges relate to five shoulder-mounted, anti-tank rocket launchers among seven allegedly stolen from the army. Police have recovered one of the launchers after cutting a deal with Sydney underworld figure Adnan Darwiche, who is serving a double life sentence for murder.
It has been revealed that the Darwiche family, which was caught up in a string of shootings in western Sydney stemming from a feud with the rival Razzak family, had access to some of the rocket launchers. Five of the stolen rocket launchers are believed to have been sold to a Sydney man who is now facing terrorism charges.
Community sources have said that a member of one Middle Eastern crime family has privately boasted of possession of at least one rocket launcher. Police said last week that Mr Abdulrahman had no immediate connections to the Australian Defence Force and that no ADF members were said to be under investigation at this point. But the focus of the police investigation is now on how the weapons were moved from the army to the Rebels, Mr Abdulrahman and then into the hands of a potential terrorist cell.
Excerpted