Posted on 10/23/2001 10:51:28 AM PDT by lady reaper
FRANKFURT, Oct 23 (AFP)
A Turkish student allegedly carrying explosives material and a bio-protection suit is being held in Germany after being arrested as he prepared to board a flight to Iran, authorities said Tuesday.
The 29-year-old man, identified as Harun Aydin, was arrested at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday last week on suspicion of belonging to "an Islamist terrorist organisation planning serious violent attacks," German prosecutors in the western city of Karlsruhe said in a statement.
They said a search of Aydin's luggage turned up a suit for protection against atomic, biological and chemical weapons, combat fatigues, a helmet and materials to build explosives.
A CD-ROM was also discovered that included a training programme for "God's warriors" with detailed instructions for joining the "holy war".
The prosecutors said Aydin was a leading member of an underground Islamic fundamentalist organisation in Germany knwon as the Kaplan group, after its leader, Metin Kaplan.
Metin Kaplan, also known as the "caliph of Cologne", is accused of plotting a holy war against the Turkish government to replace it with a religious regime.
German intelligence suggest the group, believed to have 1,300 supporters in the country, had contacts to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s.
Judicial sources said the man was in custody in the western German city of Darmstadt pending further investigation by federal police.
The German federal border police said Aydin was preparing to board an Iran Air flight to Tehran when he was arrested and that his capture had been "relatively quiet". They said he was carrying both a German and a Turkish passport.
A report in Tuesday's Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper quoted security sources as saying the material found in Aydin's possession was typical of "sleepers" -- terrorists who lead low-profile, law-abiding lives until they are called upon to strike.
Aydin's lawyer, Michale Murat Sertzoes, told the newspaper that his client disputed the charges and said his baggage had been switched with someone else's at the airport.
"He met a fellow Turk whose first name was Mehmet at the airport and asked him because he had excess baggage if they could check in their luggage together," Sertzoes said.
The lawyer said that Aydin told him that the individual pieces of luggage had gotten confused by personnel and that some bags that did not belong to him were marked with his name. He added that the fact Aydin had bought a return ticket showed he planned to return.
He said Aydin was married to Kaplan's sister-in-law but disputed that he had an important role in the Kaplan group.
I´ve practically been glued to this site since 9.11 and I missed it too
BTW, do a search on Metin Kaplan and learn more about his wacky organization.
"Yonduh lies da palace of my fadduh, da Caliph."
Tony Curtis in The Voyage of Sinbad
When questioned by authorities all Mr. Aydin could say was "It wasn't me ... man, it wasn't me! The sun was in my eyes, and my ping-pong paddle had a hole in it. There was a flood, and my luggage got lost. Really, there was this other dude named Memhet who took my identical leather skinned suitcase!"
When asked why his name was in the bio-suit he replied ... "Oh ... that is the suit I wear for Oleo parties!"
PR slogan: "Russia and Iran good; Taliban bad." (Will the real enemy please stand up?)
"We will go after the terrorists and any countries which harbor them" One at a time, I suppose; Let's hope this doesn't blow up on more fronts than we can cover.
You thinking of the guy who reminded the teachers of missed homework assignments....?? I thought he never made it out of school alive.
Yes, he was going to a Halloween party. In fact, his cousins have been out buying candy.
#12 Oh sure.
Hey, it can happen. Didn't you see that movie, "What's Up, Doc?," with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neil?
Excellent question. I don't think I've seen anybody ash that before. The technical answer is, no. Since multiple posts of the same article only spread out the discussion, but don't cause additional posts, bandwidth is not wasted. Duplicate articles only waste server disk space and break up the comments.
OTOH, the posting police probably do waste bandwidth, as the griping adds nothing to the discussion and still increases the size of the thread.
Just my opinion.
That would be the new Jihad Office Suite for Window XT. It supports the Terrorst Flight Simulator 2002, Adobe BombMill, Quicken for Money Launderers, and Saddam Nuke'Em
All programs can be easily installed with the Installation Mullah program.
I would rather jump naked into a swimming pool filled with double-edge razor blades than see it. Yikes.
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