February 11, 2009 9:19 PM
Arrests At Italy Mosques
Authorities raided several Islamic centers in northern Italy early Thursday and arrested two people accused of recruiting fighters for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, police said.
A third person already detained in Milan, Abdelhalim Hafed Remadna of Algeria, spoke by satellite phone with top bin Laden operatives in Afghanistan about sending new recruits to al-Qaida camps there.
Remadna and Yassine Chekkouri of Morocco, who was arrested overnight, worked at Milan's Islamic Cultural Center and mosque, which U.S. officials have described as "the main al-Qaida station house in Europe."
Italian investigators have been watching the center for months. Police raided it overnight along with another Milan mosque and several Islamic centers in northern Italy, said Bruno Megale, a deputy chief of Italy's anti-terrorism police.
The raids on the mosques, in which documents and other evidence was seized, stemmed from an investigation, launched before the attacks on the United States, into the trafficking of arms, explosives and chemicals, police told Reuters.
"We have seized a lot of useful material, especially documents that prove links between these people and militants outside of Italy," a police official told Reuters.
In recent months, police have arrested a dozen people in and around Milan as part of an investigation connected with Sept. 11 and a foiled plot to strike at the U.S. embassy in Rome earlier this year. Remadna, who was a secretary at the center, and Chekkouri, who worked there as a librarian, were the first suspects directly affiliated with the center to have been detained. Both men are 35 years old.
Also arrested Wednesday was Nabil Benattia, a 35-year-old Tunisian, Megale said. A 39-year-old Egyptian named Abdelkadir Es-Sayed remained at large. Police suspect him of being a key bin Laden operative with connections to extremists who carried out a 1997 massacre in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor which left 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians dead.
Inside Remadna's offices at Milan center, police seized a false Yemeni passport, a false Italian driver's license and faxes of a map detailing routes to Afghanistan through Iranian territory, Megale said during a news conference.
The faxes, as well as wiretaps of telephone conversations between Remadna and bin Laden operatives in Afghanistan, indicated that in recent months new recruits were advised to enter Afghanistan from Iran because it was easier than crossing the border from Pakistan, he said.
The wiretaps also revealed codes that bin Laden's operatives used to indicate they needed new fighters, saying they were opening a new "gymnasium" and needed new gym instructors, Megale said.
Police initially said Remadna, the two other people arrested and an Egyptian who remains at large, were suspected of criminal association aimed at possessing explosives and dangerous chemicals and producing false documents.
But at a press conference, Megale was vague whe pressed for details on the chemical charge and said the key charges against the men were criminal association, producing false documents, facilitating clandestine immigration and recruiting combatants to fight in Afghanistan.
He confirmed that an Italian chemist who had converted to Islam had been questioned as part of the investigation and had his home searched. But Megale refused to provide any details and stressed that the chemist hadn't been charged.
The Islamic center's president, Abdel Hamid Shaari, defended his mosque.
"The center intends to defend its honor and its legal status," he said in an interview. "After all, it wasn't the center that was searched, but only the offices and workplaces of certain people who work at the center."
The latest arrests were part of a probe that includes the April arrest of Essid Sami Ben Khemais, a Tunisian whom European authorities now believe was sent from Afghanistan to supervise bin Laden's terrorist operations in Europe.
Spanish investigators say Ben Khemais may have met in Spain earlier this year with Mohamed Atta, one of the hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
©MMI CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report
A third person already detained in Milan, Abdelhalim Hafed Remadna of Algeria, spoke by satellite phone with top bin Laden operatives in Afghanistan about sending new recruits to al-Qaida camps there.
Remadna and Yassine Chekkouri of Morocco, who was arrested overnight, worked at Milan's Islamic Cultural Center and mosque, which U.S. officials have described as "the main al-Qaida station house in Europe."
Italian investigators have been watching the center for months. Police raided it overnight along with another Milan mosque and several Islamic centers in northern Italy, said Bruno Megale, a deputy chief of Italy's anti-terrorism police.
The raids on the mosques, in which documents and other evidence was seized, stemmed from an investigation, launched before the attacks on the United States, into the trafficking of arms, explosives and chemicals, police told Reuters.
"We have seized a lot of useful material, especially documents that prove links between these people and militants outside of Italy," a police official told Reuters.
In recent months, police have arrested a dozen people in and around Milan as part of an investigation connected with Sept. 11 and a foiled plot to strike at the U.S. embassy in Rome earlier this year. Remadna, who was a secretary at the center, and Chekkouri, who worked there as a librarian, were the first suspects directly affiliated with the center to have been detained. Both men are 35 years old.
Also arrested Wednesday was Nabil Benattia, a 35-year-old Tunisian, Megale said. A 39-year-old Egyptian named Abdelkadir Es-Sayed remained at large. Police suspect him of being a key bin Laden operative with connections to extremists who carried out a 1997 massacre in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor which left 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians dead.
Inside Remadna's offices at Milan center, police seized a false Yemeni passport, a false Italian driver's license and faxes of a map detailing routes to Afghanistan through Iranian territory, Megale said during a news conference.
The faxes, as well as wiretaps of telephone conversations between Remadna and bin Laden operatives in Afghanistan, indicated that in recent months new recruits were advised to enter Afghanistan from Iran because it was easier than crossing the border from Pakistan, he said.
The wiretaps also revealed codes that bin Laden's operatives used to indicate they needed new fighters, saying they were opening a new "gymnasium" and needed new gym instructors, Megale said.
Police initially said Remadna, the two other people arrested and an Egyptian who remains at large, were suspected of criminal association aimed at possessing explosives and dangerous chemicals and producing false documents.
But at a press conference, Megale was vague whe pressed for details on the chemical charge and said the key charges against the men were criminal association, producing false documents, facilitating clandestine immigration and recruiting combatants to fight in Afghanistan.
He confirmed that an Italian chemist who had converted to Islam had been questioned as part of the investigation and had his home searched. But Megale refused to provide any details and stressed that the chemist hadn't been charged.
The Islamic center's president, Abdel Hamid Shaari, defended his mosque.
"The center intends to defend its honor and its legal status," he said in an interview. "After all, it wasn't the center that was searched, but only the offices and workplaces of certain people who work at the center."
The latest arrests were part of a probe that includes the April arrest of Essid Sami Ben Khemais, a Tunisian whom European authorities now believe was sent from Afghanistan to supervise bin Laden's terrorist operations in Europe.
Spanish investigators say Ben Khemais may have met in Spain earlier this year with Mohamed Atta, one of the hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
©MMI CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
