(MUSLIM) Man arrested at Paris airport

BBC News ^ | December 30, 2002 | BBC News

[MadIvan]

Police have arrested a baggage handler at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, after two automatic weapons, plastic explosives and a detonator were found in his car.

The man, who is reportedly of Algerian origin, was arrested late on Saturday after a tip-off from a member of the public who saw a weapon in a car boot at the airport.

Other members of the man's family have been taken in for questioning, and the man himself can be held for up to four days without charge.

Paris police have made several arrests in the past two weeks of suspected Islamic militants who, the authorities says, were planning an attack on the Russian embassy.

Family arrests

The man is reportedly a 27-year-old of Algerian origin, who lives in the northern Parisian suburb of Bondy.

He has no criminal record, say police.

As a baggage handler, he has security clearance for several areas of Charles de Gaulle airport, one of Europe's busiest.

Anti-terrorist officers have been brought in, but only as observers at present.

The man's father, two brothers and a family friend were also arrested, after the man's flat was searched.

An automatic weapon, a machine gun, five plastic explosives and two detonators were found in his car, according to police.

Security effort

Police said before Christmas that they found bomb-making equipment at least one of the addresses raided in the Paris suburbs.

In total, nine arrests have been made since 16 December, when four people were arrested in the Paris suburb of La Courneuve.

All those arrested are said to be of Algerian or Moroccan origin.

The arrests stem from an investigation into possible connections between Islamic militants in Europe and Chechnya.

Fearing a possible attack over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, the French Government has ordered an extra 1,000 police and troops on to the streets of Paris.

[GVnana]

What's a car boot, is that the trunk?

Yep. (As we say out West.)

[gaspar]

There is a good article from Wales on Shaykh OBM on Hotbot search engine. Just enter his name.

[csvset]

His name is Abderazak Besseghir, 27 years old, of Algerian origin. He's being held, his home has been searched and his family and a friend have been questioned.

The French have had problems with ID badges at both of Paris's airports and are (trying?) to implement biometric badges to access secure areas. This was from a Babblefish translation of a French newspaper (LeMonde) story.

[MadIvan]

Yes, the boot in British English is the "Trunk" in American English.

Regards, Ivan

[ET(end tyranny)]

Regarding #54 and the name Choudary, Anjem:

I thought the name Choudary sounded familiar as one of the names of the 3 student/doctors from the Florida 'hoax', so I went looking. Here are the results:

The three student/doctors were: # 122

Ayman A. Gheith, 27
Mohammed Kambiz Butt
Omer Chaudry

Choudary = Chaudry ???? While spelled differently, they 'could' be pronounced the same.

Also of interest is that one of the three student/doctors had a last name of Butt. In this article, about Iftikhar Ali (whose name is among the 5 the FBI are now looking for,Muslim guilty of inciting racial hatred, second paragraph from the end:

Irfan Butt, defending, said his client never intended to stir up racial hatred, stressing that the Islamic religion was "fundamentally a tolerant one and does not support violent action against any individuals".

From the article, Muslim cleric defies speech ban

Mr Chowdury told BBC Wales: "At the moment, we don't know where they (Al Muhajiroun) got the permission from.

And, from the article Bin Laden supporter banned from mosque

Mr Chowdhury told BBC Wales: "At the moment, we don't know where they (Al Muhajiroun ) got the permission from.

Same paragraph, but this article has a pic of Bakir.

Choudary
Chaudry
Chowdhury

All three names COULD be pronounced the same only spelled differently. Could they be the same, only slight changes to throw investigators off? Or related to one another. Just thought it was a 'coincidence' that Chaudry and Butt, to names from the Florida three, and Chowdhury and Butt wind up in the BBC articles. And then Choudary shows up on the 'Who is' for ALMUHAJIROUN.COM

[GaConfed]

I wonder if those 5 guys are heading toward the Pheonix area?? You know the Fiesta Bowl for the college football national championship is being held in Tempe on Jan. 3. A stadium full of folks. The perfect target for this vermin.

[Mike4Freedom]

Choudary Chaudry Chowdhury

Very common Indian name, transliterated to English in many forms.

[buffyt]

I thought the French hated USA and sided with the terrorists? Maybe they are getting smart and growing up after all?

[buffyt]

So much for "Islam is a 'religion' of peace.....

[DanDan]

10 Jan 2003 13:44
Ex-Legionnaire admits framing Paris airport handler

---

(Updates with detail, background)

PARIS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A former soldier in the French Foreign Legion has admitted framing a baggage handler who was arrested at a Paris airport in December with explosives in his car, French state prosecutor Yves Bot said on Friday. "This morning, during custody, the soldier who denounced him admitted to having taken part in a plot in liaison with the in-laws" of the arrested man, Bot told a news conference.

Abderazak Besseghir, 27, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, was arrested on December 28 in an incident which heightened fears of terror attacks after police found pistols and explosives in the back of his car parked at Charles de Gaulle international airport, north of Paris.

The prosecutor said former soldier, Marcel Le Hir, admitted that he placed the explosives in Besseghir's car in collusion with another man, Patrick Pouchoulin, who was also being held in custody.

Besseghir, who has no criminal record and no known links to radical Islamic movements, has said he is innocent and that he is the victim of a plot by his late wife's family to avenge her death in a house fire last year.

He was due to be released later on Friday after being held since January 1 under official investigation for terrorist and arms offences. Under French law, an official investigation is one step short of formal charges actually being made.

In a rare move, the prosecutor's office was due to send an assistant public prosecutor to the prison where Besseghir was being held to explain the situation to him.

Police found two pistols, five cakes of plastic explosive, two detonators and a safety fuse in his car on December 28. They also found documents on airline pilots' uniforms, information on flights to the United States and a pro-Palestinian pamphlet.

However, police did not find Besseghir's fingerprints on the weapons or the explosives.