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Posted on 06/11/2002 7:46:28 AM PDT by Wallaby
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Swiss Probe Possible Padilla Visits
Associated Press Online
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
June 11, 2002 Tuesday 9:42 AM Eastern Time
BERN, Switzerland (AP)
Swiss officials are investigating whether the key suspect in an alleged plot to set off a "dirty" bomb in the United States made several visits to Switzerland, an official said Tuesday.
Hansjuerg Mark Wiedmer, spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office, said investigators from the office and from the Swiss federal police began their investigation at the end of May in cooperation with U.S. officials.
Hansjuerg Mark Wiedmer, spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office, said investigators from the office and from the Swiss federal police began their investigation at the end of May in cooperation with U.S. officials.
The FBI arrested Jose Padilla on his arrival May 8 in Chicago after traveling from Pakistan via Zurich, Switzerland. U.S. officials said he was under surveillance throughout the trip. A U.S. official said authorities suspected Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was going to scout locations to set off bombs which would combine traditional explosives with radioactive material. While not creating a nuclear explosion, dirty bombs could release small amounts of radioactive material over dozens of city blocks.
The Swiss investigation includes "determining the circumstances of one or several possible stays of the individual in Switzerland in connection with his transit via the Zurich airport," said Wiedmer.
He added that Swiss officials had already been watching Padilla, 31, also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, before he was arrested on the basis of intelligence exchanges.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Padilla met several times in 2001 with senior al-Qaida officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Information leading to Padilla's arrest came in part from U.S. questioning of captured al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah, believed to be one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants, said two U.S. officials.
Padilla first met Zubaydah in Afghanistan in late 2001 after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, then went to Lahore, Pakistan, to research dirty bomb techniques with an unidentified associate, U.S. officials said.
At Abu Zubaydah's request, Padilla traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, in March to meet several senior al-Qaida officials and discuss bombings of U.S. gas stations and hotels, they said.
This punk sounds like a prize-catch for Intel. ............FRegards
IF he talks. I'm sure Padilla's Caribbean vacation will take care of that. Of course, given his gang affiliation, one suggestion is to bring some of his rival gang members down to Gitmo to have a friendly chat with Jose.
I thought so too, but was afraid that this was a sign I was losing some of my ability to recognize faces.
Uh-oh, those anonymous Swiss Bank accounts might be at risk in the future.
Yup. I think intel has been using him as 'bait.' (how many other leads have they gotten from following his travels, etc?)
Looks like quite a bit so far, and everything is Saudi-connected!
Those wogs must think we're all like the klintoons to think that they could attack us in the Straits of Gibralter now.
They really are stuck in 700 A.D. with their thinking! The only camel-humper that might understand what we can do is Kadaffi(sp), and he's tryin' to buy his way off the bad-guys-list.
.............FRegards
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