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| Europe |
| Germany Charges Three Terror Suspects |
| 2005-12-06 |
| BERLIN (AP) - Prosecutors said Tuesday they had charged three men with being members of al-Qaida, or of supporting the organization, including one who they said tried to buy nuclear material and had contact with Osama bin Laden. Ibrahim Mohamed K., a 30-year-old Syrian national who lived in Mainz, and Yasser Abu S., a 32-year-old Palestinian who lived in Bonn, were arrested in January. They were charged on Dec. 1 with membership in a foreign terrorist organization, federal prosecutors said. Yasser's 28-year-old brother, Ismail Abu S., who lived in Marburg and was arrested in May, was charged with the lesser count of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Chief federal prosecutor Kay Nehm said Ibrahim Mohamed K. trained at Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan and fought American forces there. He had wanted to carry out a suicide attack but was ordered back to Germany in July 2002 to recruit volunteers for suicide missions and to raise funds. "He was a member of al-Qaida's command structure with contacts right up to the top leadership, in particular to Osama bin Laden," Nehm said in a statement. In late 2004, he allegedly tried to procure nuclear material, Nehm said without being more specific. While contact was made to an Islamic-extremist group in Luxembourg, the effort apparently came to nothing. In the same year, he also recruited his co-accused, Nehm said. Yasser Abu S. agreed to carry out a suicide attack, while Ismail Abu S. was to help raise funds. Details of the planned attack are not known, prosecutors said. The three were also charged with ten counts of fraud and 32 counts of attempted fraud as well as planning to contravene German export laws over a planned insurance scam. Prosecutors said Yasser Abu S. took out 10 life insurance policies in 2004-2005 and had applied for 23 more policies. The trio has allegedly planned to fake a fatal traffic accident in Egypt, claim the insurance money totaling some euro4.3 million (US$3.7 million), and pass some of it to al-Qaida. The charges were filed in a court in the western city of Duesseldorf. It was not immediately clear when the three might go on trial. |
| Posted by:Steve |