Posted on 05/19/2004 12:00:32 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
An Algerian terrorist accused of holding 32 Europeans hostage in the Sahara Desert last year has been captured in Chad, according to Germany's federal prosecutor's office.
Ammari Saifi, also known as Abdrrezak al-Para, is in custody with one other man in connection to the abductions in February and March 2003 of German, Austrian, Swiss and Swedish citizens who were traveling in the desert area of southern Algeria, reported Agence France-Presse.
The hostages were seized in separate incidents and held for three to six months.
In May 2003, Algerian army commandos rescued 17 tourists following a four-hour gun battle in which nine of the kidnappers were killed.
In August, 14 hostages were freed by their kidnappers and handed over to officials from Mali after Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi reportedly paid 5 million euros, or about $6 million, to the abductors.
Citing unnamed diplomats who requested anonymity, AFP reported at the time Libya paid the ransom "on its own initiative." The money was transferred through an intermediary chosen by Tripoli.
Germany's ZDF television earlier had reported a Malian negotiator had given ransom money paid by the German government to the hostage-takers, who had demanded $5 million for each of the 14 being held in Mali.
According to Agence France-Presse, the diplomats said the money passed "neither through Malian nor German hands."
The German government refuses to disclose whether a ransom was paid.
As first reported by WorldNetDaily's premium online intelligence newsletter, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the six separate groups of adventure tourists were believed taken captive by the extreme Islamic "Salafist Group for Combat and Prayer."
The group's regional leader is bandit chieftain Mokhtar Belmokhtar – described as part Robin Hood and part Osama bin Laden.
Belmokhtar – also known as Belaouer ("the one-eyed") – operates from a vast desert in the southeast corner of Algeria. He is involved in drug-smuggling, gun-running and highway robbery. His group seeks to install an Islamic state in Algeria.
Belmokhtar is believed to have ties with al-Qaida.
Diplomats theorized the ransom gesture was part of Gadhafi's campaign to gain "international respectability" amid talks in the United Nations Security Council over when to lift sanctions imposed on Libya after the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
I've been following the military and intelligence effort in the Sahara/Western Africa for some time now. If you find any good articles concerning the cooperation between Mauritania, Mali, Chad, etc., and the United States anti-terrorist effort in Africa, please forward them to me.
Thanks!
On the other hand the bad news is they have over 6 M dollars to use to spread terrorism.
'Rudy' Giuliani was right on this point: You do not negotiate with terrorists! He summed it up perfectly. The U.S. was plagued by kidnapping for ransom cases for years before the United States Congress decided to get its act in gear, and pass stringent, anti-kidnapping legislation. How many Lindberg baby/Patti Hearst cases do you hear about on the news?
Exactly.
Giuliani is right. Case closed!
Sounds like Quadaffy thought up a novel way to fund terrorists while appearing to help the West.
Quadafy wants to be king of all of Africa. No matter what he does he was and still is a terrorist. We gave him some breathing room but he still needs to be held on a short leash.
"Ammari Saifi, also known as Abdrrezak al-Para"
Zulu as Kono
Kam-Fong as Chin-ho
That thought entered my mind immediately..money for more terrorism.
I am thrilled he is caught!
lol Book em Danno
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