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France foils possible (Bio /Germ) terror attack!
UPI via Drudge ^ | 12-17-2002 | By Elizabeth Bryant

Posted on 12/17/2002 1:15:10 PM PST by vannrox

France foils possible terror attack

By Elizabeth Bryant
United Press International

From the

International

Desk

Published 12/17/2002 12:43 PM

PARIS, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Three men arrested in the Paris region may have been plotting a biological or chemical attack, France's Interior Minister said Tuesday.

"This is not a small affair," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told the National Assembly. "This is serious. When one finds people who have this material we do well to arrest them."

Police seized empty containers, vials of suspicious-looking fluids and powders and an outfit designed for protection against chemical and biological risks, Sarkozy said, adding that at least $5,000 in cash and false documents were also found during Monday's police raid in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.

If the tests identify chemical or biological elements, the results would confirm European fears that attacks would take more deadly forms seen with biological or chemical weapons.

British officials recently announced foiling such an attack intended to target London's underground.

According to French media reports, all three men arrested Monday are believed to be members of al Qaida, who trained in Afghanistan and spent a stint in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. Tuesday, Sarkozy confirmed the Chechnya connection.

The suspects are men of Algerian or Moroccan origin, Sarkozy said. A woman was arrested Tuesday and was identified as the wife of one of the suspects.

The group has apparently been under police surveillance in recent months, French media reports said. Their leader, Mirouane Ben Ahmed, was believed linked to Frankfurt, Germany-based Islamist radicals charged with plotting a terrorist attack on the French city of Strasbourg two years ago.

The Saint-Denis group allegedly has links as well to Islamist leader Abou Doha, at present jailed in Britain, and suspected of being a key player within a network of radical groups in Europe.

This week's arrests are only the latest in a slew of round-ups that have taken place in Europe, since September 2001.

In France, they include recent linked to Nizar Nawar, an alleged al Qaida member believed to have staged a suicide attack on a historic Tunisian synagogue. At least two of Nawar's relatives in France have been charged with aiding in a terrorist operation.

Copyright © 2002 United Press International
 


TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 911; alqaida; alquiada; anti; battle; binladen; bio; biologicalattack; biowarfare; britishterrorism; france; frenchterrorism; germ; muslims; preventedattack; religionofpeace; terror; war; wtc
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To: vannrox
These Parisian suburbs are a cauldron of danger.

Anyone who has not read the City Journal's article "Barbarians at the gate" should do so.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_4_the_barbarians.html
61 posted on 12/17/2002 3:51:49 PM PST by PianoMan
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To: uncbuck
Since a big seller in France is the book that claims the US government painted a cruise missle to look like a plane and launched it into the Pentagon, I would expect there to be a strong following in France that would adopt the position that Americans or Israelis were behind any terrorism they may experience.
62 posted on 12/17/2002 3:53:06 PM PST by weegee
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To: vannrox
...but on the positive side, it could have led to a new variety of Blue Cheese !
63 posted on 12/17/2002 3:55:01 PM PST by PoorMuttly
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To: vannrox
Those French are such fibbers!!
64 posted on 12/17/2002 3:56:59 PM PST by timestax
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To: PianoMan
I read it when it was printed and was debating whether to post it here. Denis sounds like france's worst nightmare.

They'll be sorry for their rampant multiculturalism! Sorry unto hell!

Wonder if this might be some of that VX that went missing a week or two ago.

65 posted on 12/17/2002 3:57:12 PM PST by America's Resolve
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To: timestax
Wonder if they'll look for the 'root causes' on this one like they did in the US?!? Wonder if they'll have a best selling book that translates as the "Big Lie"?

Dweebs

66 posted on 12/17/2002 3:59:07 PM PST by America's Resolve
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To: vannrox
According to AP, authorities also discovered a BIOHAZARD suit.
67 posted on 12/17/2002 4:01:08 PM PST by aristeides
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To: aristeides
This is what I found interesting from your link:

The men were preparing a chemical attack, according to radio and television reports and the daily newspaper Le Parisien, which quoted unidentified police officials and agents from the counterintelligence service DST. Radio and television reports said the chemicals could be used to pollute public drinking water systems.

Godspeed

68 posted on 12/17/2002 4:14:06 PM PST by America's Resolve
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To: Paleo Conservative
Do the Morroccans even know about the concept of soap? This sounds highly unlikely.

Considering that the concept of toilet paper, or even a leaf, a corncob, or a page out the Sears cataloge seems to be beyond them, they probably don't.

69 posted on 12/17/2002 4:31:58 PM PST by El Gato
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To: Paleo Conservative
"Do the Morroccans even know about the concept of soap?"

My memory, of 30 years in the hotel business, says you meant 'French', not Morraccans..........

70 posted on 12/17/2002 4:39:11 PM PST by litehaus
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To: Kay Soze
Perhaps they just like to kill.

Most likely Joose, Yah? There are Jews in France, and they have already been the targets of violence by the Sand Nazies. They just wanted to up the body count on their next Jihad.

71 posted on 12/17/2002 4:39:24 PM PST by El Gato
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To: vannrox
Turns out it was just a case of deodorant and some scented soap, but French authoriteis are taking no chances... in case it gets into the wrong hands.
72 posted on 12/17/2002 4:40:22 PM PST by PsyOp
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To: weegee
"Since a big seller in France is the book that claims the US government painted a cruise missle to look like a plane and launched it into the Pentagon, I would expect there to be a strong following in France that would adopt the position that Americans or Israelis were behind any terrorism they may experience"

LOL...then I suppose the next big seller will be a book about how the US painted cheese monkeys to look like Islamakazis of "Algerian or Moroccan descent". The suspicious sauces will be McDonald's special sauce components.

73 posted on 12/17/2002 4:52:04 PM PST by cake_crumb
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To: aristeides
Uh oh.............
74 posted on 12/17/2002 5:06:36 PM PST by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
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To: dljordan
I was still surprised that they actually arrested the clowns.
If they had thought that the target was us instead, they probably would have let it slide.
Hopefully, they'll finally 'get it' that the mooslims aren't our 'fwends'..
*I know, waaaaay tooo much to hope for.*
75 posted on 12/17/2002 5:31:20 PM PST by Darksheare
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To: PianoMan
From the article: "The laxisme of the French criminal justice system is now notorious. Judges often make remarks indicating their sympathy for the criminals they are trying (based upon the usual generalizations about how society, not the criminal, is to blame)"

We should probably not be surprised if the guys with the suspicious chemicals (which SURELY they were going to make cosmetics out of, NOT a chem weapon) will be out on bail in a few days?

76 posted on 12/17/2002 5:41:13 PM PST by cake_crumb
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To: per loin
ROFLMAO!
77 posted on 12/17/2002 7:42:04 PM PST by Howlin
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To: vannrox
But how can this be? Europe was supposed to be safe after they decided to throw the Israelis to the wolves and curse America. As for this brilliant French victory, I'll lay anybody 6:1 odds that it came about as a result of American intelligence services.
78 posted on 12/17/2002 7:56:55 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
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To: dirtboy
Soap and razors into fraaannnce and doltland.
79 posted on 12/17/2002 8:18:01 PM PST by Righty1
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To: fissionproducts
Don't worry they will figure it out!
80 posted on 12/17/2002 8:18:59 PM PST by Righty1
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