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August 12, 2006
Italy: Forty Muslims Arrested Following Terror Plot
News from Italian agency AGI reports that on Thurday and Friday (yesterday), 40 people were arrested, in the wake of the revelations in Britain of a plot to blow up aircraft.
Those arrested were picked up as part of a "special vigilance operation", stated the Italian Interior Ministry in a press release. The arrests resulted from actions in 14 provinces: Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Turin, Trieste, Venice and Rome. Islamic centres, including call centres, Internet Points and Money Transfer bureaux were among places visited.
In all, 1,272 locations were checked, 4,178 people identified, and 40 people were arrested. 28 of those arrested had violated immigration measures, and 12 were apprehended for crimes against property.
Additionally 114 extradition orders were filed, 111 people were reported for various crimes and 103 managers of call centres had fines imposed.
The actions were planned by three branches of police - the anti-terror unit which guided the events, in conjunction with Carabineri general command and the Financial Police.
On Friday, DIGOS (a police unit) made 15 house searches of foreigners, most of whom were Pakistani. This operation was carried out with cooperation of Belgian police, who are investigating Pakistanis who have funded Lashkar-e-Tayba (LeT) the Kashmiri separatist group which has carried out several attacks upon India, possible including the July 11 Mumbai train blasts.
During searches, documents were seized which are currently being examined by terror experts.
Three of the foreigners who were investigated on Friday have had extradition orders initiated against them, as they were illegal aliens.
Giuliano Amato, the Interior Minister, kept the Prime Minister Romano Prodi constantly updated during the operation. Amato thanked "all the forces of order involved."
On August 10, the Pakistani authorities had placed Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, founder of LeT under house arrest, without giving details. Whether there is a connection between LeT and the air terror plot is so far unknown.
Keywords: Lashkar-e-Toiba, Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Lashkar-i-Toiba, Lashkar-e-Taiba
Keyword: The name of the UK police operation on this plot is Operation Overt
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 12, 2006 12:15 PM
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