Posted on 09/13/2002 8:05:21 AM PDT by dead
A cell of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists thought to have been plotting an atrocity in Europe have been arrested on a Tongan-registered ship in Italy.
It is the second alleged terrorist link to Tonga, and comes despite assurances earlier this year by the Pacific kingdom that it had closed its controversial ship registry.
Judicial officials in Italy said yesterday 15 Pakistani men on the ship Sara had been arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist strike in Europe.
Early this year a Tongan registered ship, Karine A was boarded by Israeli commandos in the Red Sea who captured 50 tonnes of mainly Iranian weapons that Israel said were en route to the Palestinian Authority.
News of the latest incident had not reached Nuku'alofa today and government officials were not willing to comment.
Previously, Tongan officials said there were 185 ships, mostly in the Middle East, flying their flag.
The suspects on the Sara, all men, face charges of conspiracy to carry out terrorist and subversive acts, following an investigation by Italy's anti-terrorist police assisted by a unit of the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service based in Sigonella, Sicily.
"It's likely that they are part of the al-Qaeda," said Santi Giuffre, local governor of Caltanissetta in Sicily, where the men are being held.
The vessel, carrying a cargo of lead, was bound for Libya from the Moroccan port of Casablanca when it strayed into Italian waters.
In 2000 a Greek businessman Pelopidas Papadopoulos, who described himself as a director of Axion Services Ltd of Piraeus, visited Nuku'alofa and won approval to set up and operate an "Open Ships Register for Tonga".
Details of the financial arrangements between Axion and its Tonga International Registry of Ships (TIRS) and the Tongan government have not been disclosed.
On June 5 a Tongan government statement said TIRS was to be closed.
A chairman of a cabinet committee, Noble Fielakepa, said the government had acted because it was concerned about damage to the kingdom's reputation from incidents involving Tongan-registered ships carrying weapons and illegal immigrants.
"The TIRS had also not lived up to commercial expectations," the statement said.
"Diplomatic, financial, business and legal considerations were taken into account in making the final decision," Fielakepa added.
"International terrorism and an increase in people smuggling and asylum seekers were clearly key factors. Even our own region has felt the impact of these problems."
Fielakepa said they did not want Tonga's image to be further hurt by events beyond its control.
"Like the rest of the international community we did not foresee the rise in global terrorism and the illicit movement of people by sea. These developments have created special problems for the world shipping industry. The TIRS has obviously been affected by these."
In the June statement Fielakepa said the government could not be held liable for incidents featuring Tongan-flagged vessels because the primary responsibility rests with ship and cargo owners.
AFP
Coincidence? You decide.
Weapons seized on the Karine A (Jan 4)
A ship carrying weapons intended for the Palestinian Authority was captured in the Red Sea by Israel's Navy and Air Force. The boat's cargo included 50 tons of advanced weaponry including Katyusha rockets, rifles, mortar shells, mines and a variety of anti-tank missiles. Senior figures in the Palestinian Authority were involved in the smuggling.
Communicated by the IDF Spokesman: On January 3rd, the Israeli Navy seized control over the Karine A ship that was sailing in international waters on its way to the Suez Canal.
The shipment included both 122 mm. and 107 mm. Katyusha rockets, which have ranges of 20 and 8 kilometers respectively. It also contained 80 mm. and 120 mm. mortar shells, various types of anti-tank missiles, anti-tank mines, sniper rifles, Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition. From Gaza, the 122 mm. Katyushas could have threatened Ashkelon and other coastal cities; while from the West Bank, Ben-Gurion International Airport and several major Israeli cities would have been within their range. The shipment also included rubber boats and diving equipment, which would have facilitated seaborne attacks from Gaza against coastal cities.
Preliminary investigation of the crew members has revealed so far that the commanding officer of the ship is Colonel Omar Akawi. The ship was purchased by the Palestinian Authority, loaded with weapons by the Iranians and the Hizbullah, manned by Palestinian Authority personnel, with the aim of transfering the weapons it carried to the Palestinian Naval Police near the Gaza beaches.
Since October 2000, Adel Mughrabi, a major buyer in the Palestinian weapons purchasing system (with the assistance of the Palestinian Naval Police Commander Juma'a Ghali and his executive Fathi Ghazem), has been in contact with the Iranians and Hizbullah regarding a vast weapons smuggling operation for the use of the Palestinian Authority. This operation included the testing and purchase of ships, forming a sailing crew and appointing a commander for the team, as well as making arrangements as to how the weapons would be stored, loaded onto the vessels, and its journey until delivery to the Palestinian Authority.
Preliminary investigation of the team members arrested revealed that the Karine A ship was purchased by Adel Mughrabi in Lebanon, sailed to Sudan where it was loaded with regular cargo. The crew was then switched with the team members and in November 2001 sailed to Hodeida port in Yemen.
In December 2001 the ship sailed according to detailed instructions from Adel Mughrabi to the beaches of Iran near Qeshm Island. There a ferry approached it, most likely arriving from Iran, from which the weapons stored in 80 large wooden crates were transferred and loaded onto the ship. These weapons were stored in special waterproof containers produced only in Iran, which are floatable and are set with a special configurable system that determines how deep they are submerged, were prepared by Hizbullah personnel for smuggling to the Palestinian Authority. Included in the ferry team which transferred the weapons crates to the ship was also a Lebanese trainer, a Hizbullah operative who trained a diver from the ship's crew in configuring the floatation devices in Lebanon. The trainer was present for yet another refreshing training session prior to the sailing.
After completing the loading process of the weapons onto the ship, the ship had to divert to Hodeida port in Yemen due to technical problems. After crossing the canal, the ship was supposed to meet with three smaller ships that were purchased in advance and to unload the weapons onto them. According to the plan, the smaller ships were to leave the weapons near El Arish in Gaza, where the weapons were to be taken by the commander of the Palestinian Naval Police Juma'a Ghali and his executive Fathi Ghazem.
At the time of its seizure, the Karine A was captained by Omar Akawi, one of the Palestinian Authority's naval officials. In television interviews (given from an Israeli jail) he said he had been acting under instructions from more senior officials, though he had no idea whether Mr Arafat knew what was going on.
The Palestinian Authority, which announced that it is conducting an investigation, has issued arrest warrants for three people: Fuad Shobaki (said by Israel to have been in charge of funding the operation), plus Adel Mughrabi and Fathi Razem, two members of the Palestinian naval force. It is unclear whether any one them have actually been arrested; the Israelis say not.
The Israeli charge that points most directly towards Mr Arafat is that the ship is owned by the Palestinian Authority. Israeli officials have made this claim repeatedly, from the very first day, but have produced no evidence to support it.
The ship's registration documents show that it is owned by an Iraqi based in Yemen. On August 31 last year, a Lebanese shipping company sold the ship - known at the time as Rim K - for $400,000 (£275,000) to a man who gave his name as Ali Mohamad Abass.
The bill of sale states that he is an Iraqi national, passport number N173170.
Having acquired the vessel from Diana K Shipping in Beirut, the Iraqi buyer renamed it Karine A and on September 12 switched its port of registration from Lebanon to Nuku'alofa in the Pacific island kingdom of Tonga. The Tongan registration certificate gives the owner's name as Ali Mohamed Abbas (a slightly different spelling from that on the bill of sale) and again says his nationality is Iraqi.
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I don't know anything about this particular ship, the Sara.
A cell of 15 suspected al-Qa'eda terrorists has been arrested in Italy after a tip-off by American intelligence, police said yesterday.
The men, all with Pakistani papers, were believed to be masquerading as crew on a freighter which docked in Sicily after the captain became suspicious and claimed that he had to divert from his original destination - Libya - because of technical difficulties.
An Italian policewoman shows mug shots of the arrested men in Sicily
They have been charged with terrorist offences.
"We are certain that these people are part of a terrorist organisation, and we are almost certain that that organisation is al-Qa'eda," said Santi Giuffre, chief of police for the Sicilian province of Caltanissetta. "We have found interesting documents that would prove the accusations."
Police said codes in the papers were identical to those found elsewhere referring to the 1993 terrorist attempt against the World Trade Centre in New York.
"Among their belongings were found lists of names and contact information for different people," Mr Giuffre said.
"Next to some of the names was the annotation 'about to get married' written in Urdu. We have been informed by American intelligence that the phrase is a code used to indicate a terrorist who is about to commit an attack."
Mr Giuffre, a seasoned anti-Mafia investigator, said he and American authorities were in no doubt about the men.
He said the 15 were officially listed as crew on the freighter Sara by a previous captain, a Pakistani, who did not make the journey and was replaced by a Romanian. Six other Romanians made up the real crew.
The group members displayed "no knowledge of the sea or navigation", Mr Giuffre said. "We were sure from the outset that they had no reason to be on that ship."
"All 15 men had the return half of air tickets from Karachi to Casablanca. They were neither illegal immigrants nor mariners, and the accounts they gave of when they met and boarded the freighter contradicted each other."
The Tongan-flagged ship had sailed from Casablanca for Libya, where it was due to unload its cargo of 80 tons of lead and iron.
During the voyage the captain is thought to have become concerned about the Pakistani group and re-routed the freighter to Sicily, probably initially without the knowledge of the 15.
He reported technical difficulties to port authorities and was escorted into Gela by coastguard and police vessels on Aug 5, after which anti-terrorist police, who had been passed a tip-off by US intelligence, searched the Sara.
"The story seems incredible, but the evidence speaks for itself. We are quite convinced the men are terrorists," Mr Giuffre said. He earlier told a local radio station: "There is a good probability that they belong to al-Qa'eda."
They were arrested on charges of association, receiving passports and other documents, and belonging to a presumably Islamic fundamentalist-inspired religious group, intent on waging international terrorism.
Italian authorities said there was no evidence that they were planning an attack in the country.
A Pakistani embassy official in Rome said there was no evidence that the men were Pakistanis and said his embassy had been allowed no access to them to find out.
Lead? Interesting. Is there a better way to inhibit radiation? Wonder if they found anything.
I believe this comes under the heading "humanitarian aid" in the Guardian's little fantasy world. Paging Robert Fisk - cleanup on aisle three...
It will be very hard to waken them. Remember, they're more "sophisticated" than us.
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