Posted on 06/24/2003 7:13:08 AM PDT by aculeus
About 170 Italian police have launched dawn raids in a swoop aimed at a group suspected of having ties to the al-Qaeda network.
At least six people - thought to be five Tunisians and a Moroccan - have been arrested in the raids, which took place in and around the northern city of Milan.
The raids were carried out by financial police, who targeted about 40 sites, including a mosque. An imam was said to be among those detained.
The raids were "were part of a major operation against international terrorism" co-ordinated by Milan prosecutor Luigi Orsi, said a police statement.
The suspects are accused of providing financial and logistical support to a militant Algerian group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
A judicial source said a seventh suspect was still being sought.
The charges against them are said to include abetting and financing a terrorist organisation, false accounting, involvement in illegal immigration, receiving counterfeit documents and trafficking in stolen cars.
Bin Laden claim
A police source said the men were not themselves suspected of carrying out terror attacks.
But police are investigating whether they were running businesses as "fronts" to raise money for the militants.
A Tunisian man was jailed in Milan last year for criminal association aimed at producing counterfeit documents and involvement in illegal immigration to Italy.
At the time of his arrest in April 2001, the man, 34-year-old Essid Sami bin Khemais, was thought by judges to be linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, although terror charges against him were not pursued.
Italian financial police are investigating a number of companies suspected of helping fund Islamic extremists.
Thanks to this raid now there will be less money and legions minus six.
Interesting name, for a "religion of peace".
Only if you believe it's inevitable that terrorists will win. I do not.
Italy Police Swoop on Muslim Suspects in Dawn Raid - source: Reuters, June 24, 2003
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian police arrested on Tuesday a Muslim cleric and five other men suspected of financing an Islamic extremist organization that has links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group.
The six suspects, all from Tunisia and Morocco, were seized in dawn raids by more than 170 police on 42 houses across northern Italy. A seventh suspect is still on the run.
"They formed a logistical and economic support structure ... that funded militants from a network tied to al Qaeda," Finance Police Colonel Stefano Grassi told a news conference.
He said Tuesday's swoop followed a two year investigation into organized crime which uncovered a complex web of money-spinning scams that fed foreign bank accounts in the Middle East, Europe and the United States.
"These aren't the people who plant bombs. These are supporters who were involved in all sorts of criminal activities," said a police official who declined to be named.
Finance Police said the men were all members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has been fighting Algerian authorities for several years to set up a purist Islamist state. It is thought to have ties to al Qaeda.
The group is believed to be holding 15 European tourists hostage in the Sahara desert after seizing them more than three months ago. A second group of 17 tourists were freed unharmed on May 13 after commandos stormed a GSPC hideout.
The arrested cleric was named as El Mahfoudi Mohamed, a Moroccan-born imam based at Gallarate mosque, north of Milan.
The others were all Tunisians, including 37-year-old Abdooui Iyousef, seen as a group ringleader who has been placed on a terrorist blacklist by the U.S. Treasury.
Grassi said another of those in custody was "directly tied" to Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, also known as Ramzi Binalshibh, who was seized in Pakistan last year and is suspected of providing logistical backing for the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The six face an array of charges, including providing financial and logistical support to Islamic terrorist networks, trafficking in illegal immigrants, receiving counterfeit documents and trafficking in stolen cars.
They are also suspected of seeking recruits among Italy's growing immigrant community, with an eye to sending them abroad for training with militant organizations.
The leader of the Milan cell of the Salafist group was sentenced last December to four and a half years in jail for making counterfeit documents and organizing illegal immigration.
Italian police have launched numerous crackdowns on suspected Muslim militants following September 11 and Washington believes a Milan mosque acted as a main European logistics base for al Qaeda. The mosque denied the accusations.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.