Posted on 06/18/2002 5:13:22 PM PDT by Shermy
WASHINGTON (AP) Moroccan authorities have arrested a senior al-Qaida recruiter known as ``The Bear'' who is suspected of plotting attacks against Western interests in Morocco, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Abu Zubair al-Haili, a Saudi who weighs more than 300 pounds, is considered among the top 25 al-Qaida lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Before Sept. 11, he ran some of bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan. During the U.S.-led war against the Taliban and al-Qaida, he helped evacuate al-Qaida operatives from the country, officials said.
He has been in Moroccan custody since early last week, officials said. How he came to Morocco is unclear.
Al-Haili was a close associate of Abu Zubaydah, the senior al-Qaida operations chief whom U.S. authorities captured in Pakistan in March.
Like Abu Zubaydah, al-Haili was central to al-Qaida's international recruiting network, accepting recruits into training and placing them in overseas cells, officials said.
Al-Haili has not been tied to specific past al-Qaida terrorist operations, but officials said his knowledge of al-Qaida operations and terrorist cells would be useful to interrogators.
U.S. authorities are believed to have access to whatever information al-Haili is providing his interrogators.
His arrest is the latest in a series of breaks in the U.S. war on terrorism, both in Morocco and elsewhere.
On Monday, three alleged Saudi al-Qaida members were charged in connection with a plot to bomb U.S. and British warships crossing the Straits of Gibraltar between Morocco and Spain.
Last week, Moroccan authorities said the suspects planned to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the strait to attack the vessels.
Another al-Qaida senior lieutenant, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, is suspected of organizing the plot. Al-Nashiri, one of the alleged masterminds of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, remains at large, officials said.
Al-Haili's arrest was separate from those linked to the Gibraltar plot.
The Moroccans had previously arrested Mohammed Haydar Zammar, who allegedly recruited chief Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta into al-Qaida in Germany. Zammar, a German of Syrian descent, was sent to Syria, where he remains in custody, according to a German intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Zammar, a German of Syrian descent, was in Hamburg, Germany, with Atta and other members of Atta's cell, including hijackers Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. He also is believed to have introduced Atta to al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan.
Several surviving members of the cell are still being sought by international authorities, officials have said.
U.S. authorities appear to have some degree of access to Zammar although it is unclear if it is through direct contact or an intermediary despite the fact that Syria remains one of the countries the United States formally accuses of supporting terrorism.
Other al-Qaida plots have recently been averted by arrests, officials said.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities announced Tuesday they had detained 11 Saudis, an Iraqi and a Sudanese, in connection with plots to attack targets in the country.
The Sudanese man, Abu Huzifa, has admitted he fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. warplane near Prince Sultan Air Base, south of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, according to a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The missile apparently missed; the launch went undetected.
The missile launch tube was found last month by patrolling guards.
Abu Huzifa is suspected of being an al-Qaida cell leader, the official said. He was detained by Sudanese authorities in his home country, and turned over to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi officials said the 13 men planned to bomb several targets.
Separately, Pakistan has deported an American who was found not to have terrorist ties, and is questioning another American who crossed the border from Afghanistan, the State Department said Tuesday.
Spokesman Richard Boucher said the two Americans in Pakistan were detained in May, three weeks apart, in a remote area of the country, both for visa violations. Pakistani sources identified them as Mohammed Tayyab and Asfar Khan, describing them as Afghan-Americans.
A State Department official, asking not to be identified, said the administration is not aware of any apparent link between the second detainee and al-Qaida. He said the man remains in detention after three weeks because Pakistani officials are undertaking a thorough investigation.
The other American was deported to the United States last weekend. He is ``neither under arrest nor in any form of detention here,'' Boucher said.
#23, #24, and #25.
On the other hand, if he goes on a hunger strike, he might be able to hold out a LOT longer than others could. ;-)
Maybe if they greased the bars up real well, shoved a rocket in his butt, and aimed him at the bars...
Maybe some Al Qaeda, but not 300 pounder Abu.
His host probably turned him in for clogging the toilet. If this guy can hide his size XXL ass this long, imagine how long Bin Laden can stay hidden.
I say KILL HIM NOW.
Now we know where Ossama has been hiding-- in Abu's stomach.
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.