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| Europe |
| Germans arrest alleged al-Qaida suspect |
| 2008-02-15 |
| German prosecutors said Friday they arrested a 45-year-old German-Pakistani suspected of providing financial and logistical support to members of al-Qaida in southern Afghanistan. Federal prosecutors gave the man's name only as Aleem N., an ethnic Pakistani with German citizenship. But he was identified as Aleem Nasir by a relative in a telephone interview from his home in the southwestern German town of Germersheim. Prosecutors said the arrested man was suspected of making four trips between April 2005 and June 2007 to Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan to deliver at least $5,850 in cash — "and in three cases, binoculars, night-vision goggles and radios — to al-Qaida members in positions of responsibility." They also said that in the spring of 2006, the suspect recruited another person living in Germany to join al-Qaida. The suspect wrote a recommendation letter that the recruit, who was not identified, used to secure a place in a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, prosecutors said. Rheinland-Palatinate police arrested the suspect Thursday, and a federal judge on Friday ordered him to be held for the duration of the investigation. No formal charges have been filed. Manfred Gnjidic, a lawyer representing Nasir, said his client had been arrested in Pakistan last June and held for two months. He said Nasir was tortured by Pakistan's military intelligence service. The attorney said Nasir knew German authorities were investigating his activities and was not surprised by his arrest. In September, Nasir told the newsweekly Stern that he had made several trips to Pakistan to buy gems and not to visit terrorist camps. Gnjidic said Nasir had not confessed to any wrongdoing. |
| Posted by:ed |