Posted on 02/28/2003 4:03:02 AM PST by knighthawk
Algiers - Interpol's new global communications system to track terrorists across the world will soon be operational in Algeria, the international police agency's chief said in an interview on Thursday.
Interpol head Ronald Noble told daily El Moudjahid that the tracking system "will help Algeria combat (terrorism) more effectively".
Noble, who ended a two-day visit to the conflict-ridden North African nation on Wednesday, said the device should be up and working by April. He said it would be entirely financed by Interpol.
He said Algerian authorities had provided extensive information about the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, an Islamic extremist group that has been linked to al-Qaida.
"Algeria is that country that has produced the most information" about the outfit, he said, enabling investigators to "obtain very conclusive results." He did not elaborate.
Police have arrested suspected members of the GSPC, mostly Algerians, during raids in France, Spain and Britain over the past few months. Authorities in those countries suspect they were preparing attacks, including with the use of chemical weapons.
Algeria is among "countries that co-operate best" with Interpol, Noble said in the interview.
For a decade, Algerian authorities have been battling a brutal Islamic insurgency that has claimed at least 120 000 lives. Violence erupted in 1992 after the army canceled general elections that a Muslim fundamentalist party was poised to win.
Investigators in the France and elsewhere have expressed concern that Algeria is becoming a major recruiting ground for Islamic extremists.
The United States recently agreed to resume exports of military hardware and intelligence to Algeria to help the government fight Islamic militants.
Now the only thing left to do is adjust the meaning of 'terrorist' and they will be able to track anyone/everyone. I can't believe this BS is now what passes for conservative thought, where is the puke-if-you-love-government alert?
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