Two Suspects Detained in Terror PlotReport: Morocco Detains Two More Suspects

ABCNEWS ^ | June 22 | Associated Press

[mdittmar]

Moroccan authorities have detained two people, including a police officer, in a suspected plot by al-Qaida operatives to attack U.S. and British warships, a newspaper said Saturday.

The officer, who works at Casablanca's airport, is suspected of helping an al-Qaida operative evade Moroccan border controls, said the Al Ahdat Al Maghribia, Morocco's largest circulation daily.

The newspaper gave no details about the alleged role of the other detained person, a Casablanca merchant.

Moroccan authorities in May caught three Saudis suspected of plotting to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the Strait of Gibraltar to attack U.S. and British warships.

The men were arraigned Monday in a Moroccan court, accused of planning attacks with help from al-Qaida operative Ahmed Elmoulla Billal, according to the Moroccan Justice Ministry.

Moroccan authorities believe Billal is a top leader of al-Qaida in charge of planning suicide operations, but say they do not know his whereabouts.

The suspects also prepared to blow up a cafe in central Marrakech and plotted a suicide attack against the national bus company, the Justice Ministry said in a seven-page report.

One of the defense lawyers, Taoufiq Mossaif, said two of the Saudis, Zouhair Hilal Mohamed Tabiti and Hilal Jaber El Assiri, said they cut ties with al-Qaida after they moved to Morocco and married, the Arabic-language newspaper Al Ayam said.

An al-Qaida leader had asked them for information about two Spanish enclaves on Morocco's Mediterranean coast but "they refused to collaborate," the lawyer was quoted as saying.

He accused the authorities of using torture and of keeping the suspects in detention beyond legal limits, the newspaper said.

Morocco's Justice Ministry says Zouhair Hilal Mohamed Tabiti is the same person identified by U.S. officials as Abu Zubair al-Haili, a 300-pound man known as "The Bear."

U.S. officials say he ran some of Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks and helped evacuate al-Qaida operatives during the U.S.-led war on the Taliban and al-Qaida.