A Cambodian court has issued an arrest warrant for an Egyptian believed connected to a radical Islamic group planning attacks in Phnom Penh. Chhay Sinarith, a deputy Phnom Penh police chief, named Rosha Yesser, 33, also known as Yasser Elsayed Mohamed, as being a fourth person involved in a local group of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants. "If he is staying in Cambodia then authorities will find and arrest him," he said. "We will strongly fight against terrorists."
"You guys seen any Egyptians around here?"
"'Bout yay-tall, wears a turban, rolls his eyes a lot?"
"Yeah, that's him." |
The warrant was issued as 47 people, from the Middle East and Africa, were deported after authorities claimed they had smashed a terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda. Two Thais and another Egyptian were arrested for being members of JI. Police say a local non-governmental organisation Om al-Qoura had used a Muslim religious school at Russey Chroy on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital to channel money from Al Qaeda to terrorists who trained here. The arrests and deportations came ahead of a scheduled visit to Cambodia by US Secretary of State Colin Powell for a regional meeting of foreign ministers to be held in mid-June.
| If this guy's given this any thought at all, he's high-tailing it for the nearest border. The Cambodes are very nice people, most of the time, but there's a strain of viciousness that pops to the surface without warning. Often it's tied to xenophobia, and Egypt's about as xeno to Cambodia as you can get. If Mr. Holy Man gets jugged, they'll toss him in with the Cambode killers and thieves and treat him just like them — it gets mighty hot in Cambodia, just like in Egypt, and really, really sticky. And Cambodian food is really nasty stuff... |
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