Europe Tightens Net Around Al Qaeda

The hunt for Al Qaeda operatives in Europe met with some success this week, as European authorities in several countries continue their hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists, many of whom are believed to have used Europe as a base of operations in the lead-up to the September 11 attacks in the U.S.

Spanish authorities this week arrested four men they suspect of being linked with the terror organization. On Tuesday, three men were taken into custody, two in Madrid and one in the eastern city of Castellon. The men, all of Syrian origin, are described as being members of a Qaeda cell active in Spain since 1994.

Police found videotapes belonging to one of the suspects that included footage of the World Trade Center, showing the twin towers from various angles and distances. The tapes also showed San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the Sears Tower in Chicago, New York’s Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge, as well as two California theme parks including Disneyland.

The video footage included shots of bridge supports and, according to Spain’s Interior Minister, were "obviously not what a tourist would make." The tapes, which were recorded five years ago, also show terrorist training exercises, such as attacks on tanks and the use of human shields. Spanish police said the images strongly suggest planning for the September 11 attacks dated back years and included scouting of other possible targets.

In the wake of the find, officials in San Francisco doubled security at the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the most famous landmarks in the U.S., and a structure which carries more than 100,000 vehicles per day.

On Wednesday, Spanish police arrested a fourth suspect, identified as Kamal Hadid Chaar, alias Abu Nour, who authorities suspect is involved with the organization’s financial activities.

"It wouldn’t surprise me if there are detentions in the near future of other individuals, connected to the previous ones, who are partners in some cases in economic operations," police spokesman Jose Maria Seara told Reuters.

The four arrests this week are part of an operation started by Spanish police last November, bringing the number total number of arrests of Al Qaeda suspects in Spain to 24.

Italian Forgers

In Milan, Italian police arrested eight men on July 12 suspected of providing false identity papers for members of al Qaeda, including some of the hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks. All but one were Muslims from North Africa. One other suspect managed to escape the authorities.

Massimo Mazza, head of Milan’s special operations investigation team, said the eight suspects provided the "vital underground cover needed by terrorist criminals," and that the suspects had links with another group of document forgers.

U.S. officials believe that an Islamic cultural center in Milan served as Al Qaeda’s main European base. Muslim leaders have denied the accusation.

German Radicals

On July 3, German police raided a several apartments and a bookstore in the city of Hamburg, the northern port city in which suspected September 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta and at least two other conspirators lived quietly as sleepers and attended university in the years before the attacks.

Seven suspected Islamic radicals were detained in the sweeps, which authorities described as a pre-emptive strike against a group attempting to build a new terrorist cell there. The men were aged 28 to 51 and included Moroccans, Egyptians, Afghans and one German citizen. They met regularly at the Attawhid bookshop near the mosque in Hamburg where Atta prayed along with other members of the terrorist cell he led. German authorities said the men had been heard saying they wanted "to give their lives for Islam" although it is not clear whether the men belong to the al Qaeda network.

One of men detained, Abdelghani Mzoudi, a 29-year-old citizen of the United Arab Emirates, was at one time Atta’s former roommate in an apartment on Marien Street. It is believed that the U.S. attacks may have been planned from this apartment in a quiet middle-class neighborhood.

The seven detained men were later released as police said there was not enough evidence that they were planning to commit terrorist acts, thereby repeating a pattern, criticized by the U.S., where suspects are detained in raids and quickly freed.

But German officials defend the methods, saying such a strike is a way to rattle suspects and put them on notice that they are being watched, even though police might not yet have enough evidence to convict them before a court of law.

Only one person, Mounir Motassadeq, an associate of Atta’s, has been formally arrested in Germany in connection direct with the September 11th attacks. He has been accused of supporting a terrorist group.