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| Caucasus |
| Georgia nabs Arab mercenary in Pankisi Gorge... |
| 2002-08-29 |
| The Georgian Government says it has arrested a man it suspects of being a "prominent" figure with links to the al-Qaeda Islamic militant network. He was picked up by security forces searching the remote Pankisi Gorge near the border with Russia's war-torn Chechnya region. State Security Minister Valeri Khaburdzania said the man, an "ethnic Arab", was carrying a French passport believed to be fake. He was wearing military uniform under his clothes and carrying "Islamic literature" and a map of the gorge. "In our opinion or, rather, according to our information, he is linked to certain terrorist organisations," the minister told Georgian television. "We can certainly say that he is connected to organisations of the type which finally lead to al-Qaeda." Yep. Sure sounds like a Bad Guy. I thought they moved? "As regards French citizenship, we believe that it is a forged passport." That's how they could tell he was an Arab: his passport was forged... Mr Khaburdzania said that no force had been used during the arrest and the man was now being interviewed. He did not rule out extradition proceedings: "We may have to extradite him because we believe that he is one of the prominent individuals linked to these terrorist organisations and he may have committed more serious crimes on the territory of other countries." Well, pick some place and extradite him, then. I'd suggest China. They're direct and to the point when they handle these matters... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |