Italy Arrests Four Moroccans with Maps, Cyanide

abc ^ | 2/19/02

[knak]

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police arrested four Moroccans on Tuesday in possession of large quantities of cyanide and maps of Rome highlighting the location of the U.S. embassy, ANSA news agency reported early on Wednesday.

ANSA quoted police sources as saying the Moroccans, aged 30 to 40, also had maps of Rome's water system.

Police were not immediately available for comment.

At least two of the men arrested had been followed after three other Moroccans were arrested last week, ANSA said.

[GeronL]

the US embassy and the Rome water system??

were they going to poison the whole city trying to kill the Pope maybe??

[piasa]

They want a Holy War, after all.

[tallhappy]

were they going to poison the whole city trying to kill the Pope maybe??

Makes sense (in the twisted logic of these terrorists). They wanted to kill the Pope years ago in the Philippines at the same time as they blew up 10 jets. The plan was thwarted.

They wanted to blow up the WTC, tried once and tried again until they did it.

I think their obsession is the same. They want to kill the Pope still and do it as part of a double whammy. This time the Pope and US Embassy at the same time.

[Southack]

Kudos to the Italian police for doing their jobs.

[Robert357]

...trying to kill the Pope?

As the Communists found out, don't get the Pope pissed off. While the Pope is old and fragile, he has the heart of a lion and the ear of a large number of people.

I suspect that carnivor and other communications monitoring programs are working overtime right now monitoring communications all over the world. The nice thing is that anytime four terrorists are found like this there are probably a number of more who are implicated by assoication and their terrorist financial system is even more compromised.

[mercy]

I just had a pleasant fantasy upon reading this article. I saw ( as if this or a future attempt had resulted in the deaths of thousands of Italians) the entire Italian army invading Iran after learning the Morocan terrs were financed through Iran. I saw an Italian draft. I saw the US backing them and sending 600,000 troops. Gee maybe this WWIII thing could work out after all.

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

Stupid, slime ball, crp, from one or another of them 3rd. world countries that doesn't know right from wrong--------or why their kin can't spell geneology!

[GeronL]

Italy would become full partners in ths war, in other words

[P-Marlowe]

Even though cyanide is a very potent poison, it would take a LOT of cyanide to poison a city's water supply. In order to be guarnteed a lethal dose you need to injest about 300 mg. of cyanide salts. (that's like 3 asprin tablets). If you took 100 pounds of cyanide salts and tossed it into a reservoir, it MIGHT raise the level of cyanide to a level that would make it unfit for drinking, but it would be unlikely to kill anyone. You'd probably need to drink 20 to 30 gallons of water to get a lethal dose.

My guess is that these terrorists, like most terrorists, are just plain stupid. They did get caught, didn't they?

[xm177e2]

No no no, don't worry, the Cyanide is just for a science fair project, they're going to mix it with baking soda and red food coloring to make a "volcano"

[piasa]

If they were going to just toss it into a reservoir, they wouldn't need a map of the water system.

[Rubber Duckie]

I don't think we can count on their stupidity. Some of them may just be running intereference. What is needed is draconian punishment, like hanging the perps that get caught-- before they have a chance to kill anybody.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Possibly the terrorists were planning to pump the poison into the distribution side of the water supply. The idea would not necessarily be to kill, but to create a panic (some people get ill and the water is tested and voila, there's cyanide and nobody has any idea how it got there).

[P-Marlowe]

Once the water is in the water system, the water pressure alone will keep out any attempt to insert contaminants. They could put it into water towers, but it is probably still going to be diluted to the point of ineffectiveness.

What they might accomplish is to put a little panic into the people. A lot of people might freak out if the water supply was contaminated, but how many Italians actually drink WATER? Most Europoeans don't bathe too often either. So what would be gained by poisoning the water supply in Europe?

[johnny7]

Once every 50 years the Italians do the right thing.

Makes sense that they're taking the jihad to Rome. Kill the Pope,

wipe out a few more thousand of civilians... destroy the hierarchy of the Catholic church.

Improving a phrase from Calypso Louie... Islam is a gutter religion!

[VaBthang4]

"Morocco is peace"

[malamute]

geneology? wtf

no offense...i understand your point i think, but the correct spelling is genealogy.