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Posted on 01/31/2003 10:48:24 AM PST by Stultis
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 Pakistanis belonged to the militant Islamic group Islamic Jihad. He said any links between those arrested and international terrorist groups still had to be verified. Police said they picked up the 28 Pakistanis, aged 20-48, during a routine search in Naples on Thursday for illegal immigrants. During the raid of an apartment in the city center, they uncovered 2 pounds of dynamite, 165 feet of explosive fuse and various types of detonators, the police statement said. Another police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the combination of the materials "could have imploded a 10-story building." Police said the dynamite plus the chemicals used in the explosive fuse produced 3.3 pounds of T4, a powerful explosive even in small amounts. The official said police also uncovered maps of Naples with "sensitive" targets circled. He refused to elaborate. Italian news reports citing unidentified sources said the areas marked included the U.S. Consulate in Naples and NATO bases in nearby Bagnoli and Capodichino. NATO had no immediate comment. The U.S. Embassy was briefed on the arrests and was monitoring it closely, a U.S. official said. Police also found hundreds of forged identity documents, hundreds of cell phones, an index of thousands of international telephone contacts and addresses, and instruction manuals on how to forge identity documents, the statement said. In addition, religious texts in Pakistan's Urdu language and other documents were found in the apartment, as well as photos of "martyrs of the Jihad," the police statement said. The Pakistanis have been charged with several terrorism-related crimes, the statement said. Italian authorities over the past several months have arrested several dozen people suspected of links with international terrorism. Most of the attention has focused on suspected cells linked to al-Qaida in northern Italy, particularly Milan and Bologna. State-run RAI television said Friday authorities were also investigating a suspected al-Qaida cell in the northern city of Turin. The Rome daily La Repubblica reported Friday that Italian police who interviewed detainees at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba, in June spoke to two men who said they had been part of a Turin cell. But the newspaper said the Turin prosecutor has not issued any arrest warrants, apparently because of lack of firm evidence. The Italian Interior Ministry acknowledged in January that its officials had traveled to Guantanamo to interview detainees who had lived in Italy and subsequently been picked up in Afghanistan during fighting as part of its own crackdown on suspected terrorist groups in Italy. Last year, seven Tunisians were convicted in Milan of helping suspected al-Qaida recruits obtain false documents. Among them was Essid Sami Ben Khemais, whom Italian authorities believe was sent to Italy to oversee Osama bin Laden's operations in Europe. None of those arrested have been accused of any direct links to the Sept. 11 attacks.
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The supply line to the Persian Gulf. Quite a target for the bad guys.
Every 7-11 in old Napoli will be closed for days! Now if only our own Law Enforcement People, who are starting to look more and more like the people on the Jerry Springer Show, could pull off a few big busts like this.
The Eyeties made a big mistake in opening up their country to Muslims. Let's hope they can set it right. Us, too.
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Didn't you know America is responsible for every bad thing in the world, right down to the bad breath of the French??
Police also found hundreds of forged identity documents, hundreds of cell phones, an index of thousands of international telephone contacts and addresses, and instruction manuals on how to forge identity documents, the statement said.
Methinks this may be a key bust. Let's hope this list of numbers and addresses are for those in the network, and not innocents whose information was used for forged documents.
Just for the record, I doubt that they just happened to get nabbed in an immigration sweep. The more of these major busts we see, the closer we are to the onset of the Iraq offensive, I think.
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