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July 22, 2007

Italy: Mosque Terror School Uncovered

Perugia is the capital city of Umbria in northern Italy. Yesterday, a mosque was raided in the outskirts of the city, and three Moroccans, including the mosque's imam were arrested.

The news appears in Reuters, MWC News, Associated Press via CNN, Fox News and the Herald Sun, from the Evening Echo and the BBC.

The grubby exterior of the Ponte Felcino mosque makes it appear unimposing, but inside it housed a terrorist training school, claimed Italian anti-terrorism chief Carlo De Stefano. Twenty foreign students were also arrested yesterday in a related series of raids. Those without residence permits will be deported, state police. 23 raids took place.

In the cellar of the mosque (Reuters states inside the imam's home) were found barrels of chemicals including acids, nitrates and ferrocyanide. Reuters states that inside three barrels were found "dozens of bottles" which contained chemicals "with which, when combined and mixed with other easily available products, it would be possible to make improvised explosives." De Stefano said: "The investigation has shown that... there was a continued training for terrorist activity. We have discovered and neutralised a real 'terror school,' which was part of a widespread terrorism system made up of small cells that act on their own."

The group in Perugia had links with members of the GICM (Groupe Combattant Islamique Marocain or Moroccan Islamic Combat Group). This group was behind the suicide attacks at Casablanca on May 16, 2003, which killed 45 people, including the dozen suicide bombers. On February 19 last year, six members of GICM in Belgium received jail sentences for sending jihadists abroad to fight. The GICM was also involved with the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, which killed 195 people.

The imam of the central mosque in Perugia, where about 10,000 Muslims live, claimed the Ponte Felcino mosque members did not seem dangerous. Abdel Qader said: "Generally it's a quiet community. A few made some noise over the international situation, but those were just words. We trust justice. Everything will be verified, and if any (of the suspects) has made a mistake he will have to pay." Qader said of the Ponte Felcino imam: "Perhaps sometimes he polemicised about international affairs, but you know how words can fly."

The three men who were arrested were the imam, 41-year old Korchi El Mostapha, along with his two assistants, 47-year old Mohamed El Jari and 46-year old Driss Safika. A fourth suspect was wanted, but he is believed to be out of the country. The arrests followed a two-year investigation.

Italian counter-terrorism police claim that at the mosque, videos downloaded from the internet were shown, and weapons training, poisons and explosives manufacture classes and ambush and combat training took place. Additionally a download from the internet was seized, detailing how to fly a Boeing 747.

Italy's Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the case "confirms the need to always maintain high surveillance in locations where only religious activities should take place."

In May this year, Abdelmajid Zergout (Majid Zergout), a former imam from Varese near Milan, along with two other Moroccan individuals, was cleared of raising funds and recruits for GICM.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 22, 2007 12:40 PM

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Posted by: Catawhumpus at July 24, 2007 8:40 AM

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