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Substantial sums of hard currency provided to Saddam Hussein from the sale of Iraqi oil allowed under United Nations sanctions have been laundered through banks around the world by a Russian Mafiya boss described in an MI5 report as "one of the world's top criminals." Despite that, Israel continues to allow Semyon Yukovich Mogilevich to travel openly on one of its passports. Even more remarkable, the MI5 description was reinforced by an investigation by Mossad. Its report concluded that Mogilevich is a "major criminal - but has taken great care to commit no crime against Israel." His supply of arms...

A Tunisian court on Monday convicted an alleged former logistics head of al-Qaeda's European operations of belonging to a terrorist group abroad and sentenced him to 11 years in prison, a defense lawyer said. Sami Ben Khemais, 40...

...Litvinenko "was giving Scaramella lots of information about Russian and criminal infiltrations in Italy, but most of it was very difficult to verify and crosscheck. It was a little bit out on a limb." In the old days, Litvinenko had been familiar with criminal clans in Russia, now he was making risky approaches to the Italian mafia. Scaramella believed if they could get inside this network, they would be able to leverage much more damaging intelligence about Italian politicians. They spread their net wider. The Litvinenko dossier lists a dizzying roll call of names investigated by the pair, among them...

Brescia and Naples, 18 Nov. (AKI) - The three Algerians detained on Tuesday in the Italian cities of Brescia and Naples were planning a massive terror attack - "on a ship as big as the Titanic, packed with explosives" - that aimed to kill "at least 10,000 people", as well as an attack on "Italian citizens and interests" in Tunisia, according phone conversations between the three men, which Italian anti-terror police say they intercepted after al-Qaeda's deadly 7 July attacks on London and on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. In their tapped phone conversations, Yamine Bouhrama, Mohamed...

Plans to 'top' 9/11 strikes 23/12/2005 20:13  - (SA)   Related Articles Pullout 'will lead to attacks' US at risk for more attacks US had 'bomber' in their hands Why is Osama so quiet?    Rome - Three Algerians arrested in an anti-terrorist operation in southern Italy are suspected of being linked to a planned new series of attacks in the United States, interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Friday. The attacks would have targeted ships, stadiums or railway stations in a bid to outdo the September 11 2001 strikes by al-Qaeda in New York and Washington which killed about 2 700 people, Pisanu...

The Associated Press NAPLES, Italy Jan. 31 — Police arrested 28 Pakistanis found in possession of explosives, hundreds of forged documents and maps of the Naples area with "sensitive targets" circled, authorities said Friday.In a statement, police said they had uncovered an "al-Qaida terrorist cell," but gave no further details on the Pakistanis' alleged involvement with al-Qaida or any other international terrorist group.A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said late Friday officers "might have gotten ahead of themselves" in announcing an al-Qaida link in the headline of their news release.The official also dismissed Italian news reports that the...

TERRORISM: Al Qaeda Group Busted in Italy February 2, 2003: During a routine sweep for illegal immigrants, Italian police rounded up 28 Pakistanis suspected of being terrorists. Police found two pounds of dynamite, 165 feet of explosive fuse and various detonators, as well as hundreds of forged documents and maps of metropolitan Naples. Authorities said "sensitive targets" were circled with a pen but would not elaborate, while Italian news reports said the possible targets included the U.S. Consulate in Naples and nearby NATO bases. One map was to the town of Bagnoli (outside Naples), where the NATO southern headquarters is...