Morocco Arrests Three More Al Qaeda Suspects

Reuters ^ | Jun 25, 2002

[Ranger]

RABAT, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco has arrested three more Moroccans suspected of plotting attacks on U.S. and British warships for Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s al Qaeda group, a security investigator said Tuesday.

The three men, who include a policeman and court clerk, were arrested during the weekend and are in custody at a Casablanca jail with three Saudis and four Moroccans arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of links to the alleged plot.

"We arrested three new suspects linked to al Qaeda terrorist network ... The three are now held in Oukacha prison with the other seven accused," the investigator, who declined to be named, told Reuters by telephone.

He said the 10-member group "led by three Saudi operatives" had plans to commit terrorist attacks on warships in the Gibraltar Strait and on the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.

Washington blames al Qaeda for the September 11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States.

The investigator said a "sophisticated manual for making explosives and home-made bombs" was seized by police.

The accusations against the seven arrested in May and June, among them three Moroccan women, include "criminal conspiracy, willful homicide, attempted sabotage of buildings with explosives and the use of false documents."

Some of them could face the death penalty if found guilty.

'SEPT. 11 SUSPECT TRIGGERED ALERT'

The investigator said the newly arrested policeman, who was in charge of security at the Casablanca airport, is suspected of being "corrupted by one the three Saudis" while a Rabat court clerk is suspected of fabricating "false documents."

He declined to give the names and age of the suspects and said they would appear this week before an examining magistrate. No date for a trial has been set.

Commenting on the arrests, a senior Western intelligence officer said Moroccan security services had been monitoring al Qaeda's activity since a Syrian-born man -- linked by Washington to the September 11 attacks -- entered the country.

"The Moroccan services first tracked al Qaeda's group discreet activity in the country in October...The alert was launched when Zammar entered Morocco with a German passport," the officer said.

Syrian-born Mohammed Haydar Zammar, 41, is a German citizen who previously lived in Hamburg, once home for three of the four main September 11 suicide hijackers. He is believed by the United States to have recruited Mohamed Atta, suspected ringleader of the attacks.

"Zammar was expelled from Morocco in late October...He was put on a Syrian flight to Damascus," the Rabat-based officer, who requested anonymity, said.

Local media reported earlier this month that Zammar came to Morocco on October 27 to divorce his Moroccan wife, but it was not known how long he stayed in the country.

Justice Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.