Word: beghal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Spanish roundup on Wednesday nabbed six Algerians suspected of running a logistical support cell for the so-called Beghal network - named after Djamel Beghal, a Franco-Algerian Muslim, bin Laden associate and network coordinator. That sweep came a day after British police apprehended three men, including Kamel Daoudi, 23, a Frenchman who escaped the Sept. 21 capture of seven co-members of the Beghal group in suburban Paris. The joint European crackdown began on Sept. 13, when Belgian and Dutch authorities apprehended six extremists said to be part of a plan to attack U.S. targets in France - including the American...
That good fortune arose when United Arab Emirates police detained Beghal as he transited the Dubai airport - using a fake passport - during a trip from Pakistan to France. A veteran of Afghan training camps, where he received direction from members of bin Laden?s inner circle, Beghal was sought by France as a suspected organizer of Muslim extremists in Europe - suspicions confirmed by Beghal himself. French authorities say police in Dubai apparently assign an Islamic spiritual adviser to captured terrorists to cite and discuss Koranic texts condemning murderous acts as a violation of Islam. Over time, the messages may break...
Emirates authorities relayed their stunning information to officials in Europe, who immediately placed Beghal?s operatives under surveillance. Although French investigators say the planned strikes were still months away, the Sept. 11 U.S. attacks prompted Belgian and Dutch police to move immediately, just in case European timetables had been advanced. That, complained France?s top antiterrorist investigator Jean-Louis Brugière, not only halted monitoring to identify other members of the cabal, but also risked provoking the flight of network members in France and Spain. As it turned out, police raids in France interrupted terror suspects in the process...
...brother trained at the Afghan camps and is currently in a French prison for terrorism-related crimes. Also apprehended was Nizar Trabelsi, 31, a Tunisian and former pro soccer player, who was lured from an errant life of drugs and alcohol by the redemption of radical Islam. Moving on Beghal?s identification of Trabelsi as the designated bomber for the U.S. embassy attack, Belgian police raided his apartment and found automatic weapons and documents related to the assault. The search of a nearby restaurant turned up bomb-making materials. "It?s still unknown exactly how the attack...
Though that threat now appears reduced, French police say troubling insights were gained in the sweeps. Like the authors of the U.S. attacks, the Beghal network members would have merited scant attention had they not first been fingered by Beghal. Virtually all were married, had children and held steady jobs; few had any association with known radical groups. Nothing in the past of fugitive Daoudi, for example, gave cause for suspicion, or indicated a sympathy with terrorist causes. Respected by his peers as a talented computer scientist, he secretly applied his skills to ensure safe Internet communication between network members...