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APRIL 2001 : (MILAN CELL : ARREST OF BEN KHEMAIS AND FOUR TUNISIANS - "TOMATO CAN" CYANIDE PLOT ; See also THE FRANKFURT CELL) Italian police arrested Ben Khemais and four other suspected members of the group, all Tunisian. The five are expected to be brought to trial this month.[Dec 01] ---------- "Tapes hint at cyanide plot by al-Qaida," ©Associated Press via St. Petersberg Times Online (FL), December 1, 2001
APRIL 2001 : (ITALY : MILAN CELL : EDDIS SAMI BIN KHEMAIS IS ARRESTED) Khemais was arrested in April 2001. ----- "Italian police arrest six in crackdown on Islamist cell," Yahoo News - AFP, Tuesday June 24, 10:53 PM 2003
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Khemais was arrested in April 2001 and sentenced last December [2002] to four and a half years in prison for criminal association aimed at producing counterfeit documents and involvement in illegal immigration to Italy. Terrorism charges were not retained against him, but the cell was dismantled as a result of the conviction. .
----- "Italian police arrest six in crackdown on Islamist cell," Yahoo News - AFP, Tuesday June 24, 10:53 PM 2003

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APRIL 2001 : (FRANCE : ANOTHER STRASBOURG / NEW YEAR'S EVE PLOT FIFTH ARREST --- See FRANKFURT CELL, MILAN CELL) A fifth suspect in planning the Strasbourg, France New Year's Eve 2000 attacks is arrested. Information from other European law enforcement agencies, including cell phone conversations picked up by Italian authorities, led to the arrest of a fifth suspect. Previously four suspects had been arrested in December 2000. - "Terror suspect tells German court: 'You're all Jews," by Melissa Eddy, AP via Jerusalem Post , April 16, 2002

MAY 2001 : (MILAN CELL, ABU SALEH INVOLVED IN PLOTS TARGETTING US CITIZENS OR DIPLOMATS IN FRANCE) Less than four months before Sept. 11, the Italian police, in what one report terms "a context of international collaboration," received information about Abu Saleh's involvement "in an unspecified 'criminal project' that had U.S. citizens or diplomats as its objectives." Abu Saleh's role in the project, which investigators think was unrelated to Sept. 11 but may have included an alleged plot to bomb targets in France, involved supplying false identity documents.
------- "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002