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1999 : (MILAN, ITALY : MILAN TERROR CELL OF TUNISIANS AND MOROCCANS IS OPERATING BY THIS TIME, RECRUITING & FUNDRAISING THROUGH SALE OF FAKE ID TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS -- See GALLARATE MOSQUE, IMAM MOHAMED EL MAHFOUDI, YOUSSEF ABDAOUI , MILAN CELL, GSPC) "The suspects have been operating, with help from Italian collaborators, since 1999 using private businesses and cooperatives based in the province of Milan as cover," the financial police said in a [June 24, 2003] statement. The businesses were a front for producing Islamist propaganda and fund-raising through the sale of fake identity papers to illegal immigrants, police allege. Funds raised were transferred to accounts in at least 16 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North America. ----- "Italian police arrest six in crackdown on Islamist cell," Yahoo News - AFP, Tuesday June 24, 10:53 PM 2003
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Italy's financial police launched [in June 2003] a major swoop on an Islamist group said to have ties to the al-Qaeda network, raiding dozens of sites around Milan and arresting six for allegedly financing and abetting a terrorist organisation. In an operation unleashed at dawn, 170 officers searched around 40 sites including a mosque in the northern region of Lombardy, police said Tuesday. Five Tunisians and an imam, or religious leader, of Moroccan origin were arrested. A seventh Tunisian was also sought but is probably already imprisoned in Tunisia, police added. They are accused of giving logistical help to a cell of the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a militant Islamic group waging a bloody civil war to overthrow the secular government in Algiers. "The suspects have been operating, with help from Italian collaborators, since 1999 using private businesses and cooperatives based in the province of Milan as cover," the financial police said in a statement. The businesses were a front for producing Islamist propaganda and fund-raising through the sale of fake identity papers to illegal immigrants, police allege. Funds raised were transferred to accounts in at least 16 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North America.
The detainees are accused of criminal association aimed at abetting and financing a terrorist organisation, false accounting, involvement in illegal immigration, receiving counterfeit documents and trafficking in stolen cars. One of the charged is 38-year-old Moroccan Mohamed el Mahfoudi, the imam of Gallarate mosque on the outskirts of Milan.
Also detained was a Tunisian political refugee, Youssef Abdaoui, who was already convicted in Bologna last February [2002] for receiving fake Pakistani visas.
----- "Italian police arrest six in crackdown on Islamist cell," Yahoo News - AFP, Tuesday June 24, 10:53 PM 2003

1999 late - 2001 summer : (ITALY : MILAN CELL CONVERSATIONS ARE OVERHEARD-- See AL QAEDA) The overheard conversations, which took place in apartments, offices and even automobiles in and around Milan, include numerous discussions of false travel documents and the clandestine movement of al-Qaida fighters across international borders — the twin specialties, investigators say, of the erstwhile Milan al-Qaida base. - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002

JULY ? 2000 : (A. ABDULRAHMAN CONVERSATION WITH MAHMOUD ES SAYED aka ABU SALEH ABOUT IMPENDING ATTACKS -- SEE 9/11, MILAN CELL) Recorded conversation of [Abdulsalam Ali Ali] Abdulrahman remarking to [Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed] aka Abu Saleh about an impending attack that "will wreak such a great havoc" and "leave them all dumbfounded." - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002

NOVEMBER 1997 : (LUXOR, EGYPT : LUXOR MASSACRE -- ES SAYED aka ABU SALEH WHO PLAYED A ROLE IN THE ATTACK -- See MILAN CELL) He was convicted in absentia in Egypt for his alleged role in the killings of 58 foreign tourists at Luxor in November 1997----- "Italy (Local Prosecutor) Probes Possible CIA Role in Abduction (of Islamist)," Chicago tribune via Yahoo! News ^ | 2/25/2005 | John Crewdson

AUGUST 2000 : (ITALY : AL QAEDA : MILAN CELL : YEMENI HINTS TO MAHMOUD ES SAYED aka SALEH OF POSSIBLE INTENT TO DESTROY AIRCRAFT) During one wiretapped conversation between Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed aka [Abu Saleh] and a Yemeni in August of 2000, the Yemeni tells Es Sayed that "God willing, I hope that I can bring you a window or piece of airplane the next time we meet." (This same Yemeni has also once referred to "studying airplanes.") - "Terrorists' Twin Tower Images, Secret Porn Messages ," ABC News , 5/8/03

AUGUST 2000 : (MILAN CELL, ABDULRAHMAN VISITS ES SAYED aka SALEH IN MILAN, CONVERSATIONS ABOUT AL QAEDA OPERATIVES IN US CLAIMING TO BE EGYPTIAN, 'MAIL ORDER BRIDE MAGAZINE TRICK') A suspected al-Qaida organizer, Abdulsalam Ali Ali Abdulrahman, paid a brief visit to Abu Saleh in Milan and was overheard referring to "some brothers who entered America thanks to a mail-order-bride magazine trick," but who "claimed to be Egyptians and kept their true identity concealed." - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002

OCTOBER 2000 : (USS COLE BOMBED TWO MONTHS AFTER ABDULRAHMAN CONVERSATION WITH MAHMOUD ES SAYED aka SALEH) Two months after Abdulrahman's remarks to Abu Saleh about an impending attack that "will wreak such a great havoc" and "leave them all dumbfounded," suspected al-Qaida terrorists in the Yemeni port of Aden detonate a bomb next to the destroyer USS Cole, killing 17. - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002