MILAN, Italy – A Europe-wide sweep disrupted an Islamic cell that was recruiting potential suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, Italian police said Tuesday, announcing the arrests of 20 terror suspects. Police said the suspects, mostly Tunisians, were arrested across Europe as part of the sweep against a cell based in the northern Italian region of Lombardy.
Executing the arrest warrants, police said they found al-Qaeda manuals for making explosives, detonation devices and poisons, and instructions on guerrilla techniques. “The investigation has revealed recruitment, training and passage to aspiring terrorists to Iraq and Afghanistan,” lead investigator Gen. Giampoaolo Ganzer, of Italy's paramilitary Carabinieri police, told a news conference.
The suspects were wanted on charges ranging from association with the aim of committing international terrorism to falsifying documents to aid illegal immigrants. “Once more, the central role of Milan and Lombardy in the panorama of Islamic militants has been confirmed,” the Carabinieri said in a statement.
The group's members had been indoctrinated in militancy in mosques since at least 1998, according to police transcripts, and appeared to take serious precautions. In one intercepted call, a suspected cell member said that “things are being done with extreme calm, haste does not bring the desired results.”
Eleven were arrested in the northern Italian cities of Milan, Reggio Emilia, Imperia and Bergamo. Nine others were arrested on warrants issued in France, Britain and Portugal, Italian news agencies reported. Authorities in Britain, France and Portugal confirmed arrests.
The Lombardy cell had ties with a group in neighboring Emilia Romagna whose aim is to establish an Islamic state extending from Morocco to China, Italian investigators said. Intercepted phone calls made clear the aim of sending jihadist fighters to Iraq via Syria, including specific instructions on shaving off beards before departure to give the impression of making a “peaceful trip.”
Ganzer said that while the main aim of the group were attacks aimed at western targets in Iraq and Afghanistan, they also had ties to groups that planned attacks in Italy. Police said the Milan-based cell helped a Tunisian involved in planning a failed attack in Bologna flee to France in 2006. The attack was meant to be carried out around Italy's national elections in April 2006, police said.
Giuliano Amato, Italy's interior minister, said the suspects are mostly Tunisian. He praised the sting as an example of strong cooperation among European countries.
In Britain, authorities said two suspects were arrested in London and Manchester and face extradition to Italy. The men, identified as Ali Chehidi, 34, and Mohamed Khermiri, 53, were accused of forging documents to help volunteers enter Italy illegally.
Portuguese police said they arrested a North African in the northern Portuguese city of Porto on suspicion of international terrorism, illegal immigration and smuggling. He had been in Portugal for three years and had a Portuguese residence permit allowing travel within Europe's Schengen area.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20071106-0749-italy-terrorism.html
ISLAMABAD: Following the imposition of Emergency Rule by President General Musharraf in the country, Intelligence and Security Agencies Tuesday launched a massive crackdown against terrorists and extremists. Security Sources reveal that alleged terrorists who were earlier released by Supreme Court are being arrested again and raids are underway in this regard.
Well-placed Sources told Online that President Musharraf has said that 61 alleged terrorists were released on the orders of SC, however orders have been issued to re-arrest them. It has been told that all of the 61 are said to be high-profile terrorists.
Further, it has also been disclosed that various have been arrested who are involved in terrorist activities in Swat and other parts of the countries. They have been kept secret and under the possession of Intelligent Agencies. On the other, Leaders and Activists of defunct Jehadi Organisations are being traced and re-arrested again who were earlier released. Meanwhile crackdown is still continuing in various parts of the country till the complete ouster of terrorists and extremists.
http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?193938
Man Arrested in Turkey in Connection to Foiled Terror Plot in Germany
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
BERLIN — A man has been arrested in Turkey in connection with a foiled terror plot in Germany, his lawyer said Tuesday. Lawyer Manfred Gnjidic said he did not know where in Turkey his client, Attila Selek, was being held, or what precisely he was accused of. He said, however, that the arrest was connected to an alleged terrorist plot that German authorities foiled in September.
"He has nothing to do with it," Gnjidic said, adding that his client had traveled to Turkey months before the plot was foiled. Sonja Heine, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors' office in Germany, said that "we have no official confirmation" of the arrest.
Two German converts to Islam and a Turk were arrested in Germany in September, accused of planning massive bombings against U.S. and other facilities in Germany. German authorities have said that a militant group, the Islamic Jihad Union, claimed responsibility for the plot, and that the targets were the U.S. air base at Ramstein and U.S. and Uzbek consular facilities in Germany.
The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which did not cite its sources, reported that Selek is accused of membership in a terrorist organization and allegedly helped the group acquire detonators. Selek, 22, is a German citizen.
Amazing news. Thank you.
ADDING 2 NAMES to your post no. 267, Oorang.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/018706.php
(THE TIMES co.uk)
November 7, 2007
“Two arrested in dawn raids on suspicion of recruiting for jihad as part of Europe-wide swoop”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Ali Ben Zidane Chehidi, 34, and Mohamed Salah Ben Hamadi Khemiri, 53, both Tunisians, were detained at their homes in London and Manchester. The swoop was part of a coordinated operation led by Italian antiterrorist police aimed at breaking up a sophisticated recruitment organisation. Some 20 suspects, mostly of North African origin, were picked up in further raids in Italy, France and Portugal.
Mr Chehidi was arrested in Purley, South London, by officers from Scotland Yard’s extradition unit assisted by Counter Terrorism Command. Another team from the extradition squad, backed up by antiterrorist officers from Greater Manchester Police, detained Mr Khemiri in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The two men were arrested on behalf of the Italian authorities under an extradition warrant in relation to allegations that between 2003 and 2005 they forged documents to facilitate the illegal entry into Italy of recruited volunteers to fight jihad in Iraq and Afganistan.” The two men face proceedings to extradite them to Italy, where the authorities said the raids were the culmination of a four-year investigation.”