Hidden Threat

Sunday, Jan. 26, 2003 By HELEN GIBSON LONDON, JEFF ISRAELY ROME AND JANE WALKER MADRID
Carabinieri escort one of five Moroccans arrested after a find of maps and explosives
TONI GARRIGA/AFP
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The string of arrests in Spain, Italy and Britain all took place in areas with large immigrant populations, especially from North Africa, and involved shared intelligence among Spanish, Italian, British and French security officials. The raids could turn out to be among the most prominent successes to date in Europe's battle against terrorism. But they are also worrying signs that there could still be many extremists at large across the Continent, plotting fresh attacks.

Spain has proved to be an important link in al-Qaeda's European terror network. Mohamed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, visited Salou on Spain's Costa Dorada in the summer of 2001. Investigators believe the trip was part of the final planning for the Sept. 11 attacks. Since November 2001, 40 people have been detained by Spanish police as part of their terror investigations.

Aznar said the detainees were members of an extremist Algerian Islamic movement with known ties to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, and described the raids as "an extremely important strike in the war on international terrorism." Guillermo Ruiz Polanco, the investigating magistrate who ordered the operation after consultation with French and British authorities, said he was analyzing intelligence that the suspects had connections to the group that carried out the Bali bombing last October, in which 200 people died.

Italian authorities say it is still too early to know what exactly the suspects in Badia Polesine might have been planning. In addition to the explosives and map, several letters — written in Arabic and addressed to locations in England — were discovered. Since Sept. 11, the police have arrested 55 men, mostly North Africans, on suspicion of terrorist activity. According to one Italian intelligence officer, there are roughly 1,200 suspected terrorists still at large in the country. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, in Rome for bilateral talks, acknowledged the looming threat during an impromptu press conference. Ashcroft praised Italy's success, saying: "The arrests are concrete evidence that Italy takes terrorism seriously and fights it aggressively."

Italian investigators are nervous about the effect that an eventual U.S.-led war against Iraq could have on sleeper cells in the country. Italy, like Spain and Britain, is seen as supporting American plans in Iraq, and an invasion could trigger terrorist reprisals in Europe. "Terrorist activity hasn't increased in recent weeks," says a top Italian antiterrorism official. "But this is a particularly serious moment. Everything depends on what happens on the international front. If there is no war, there is less of a possibility for an attack."

The threat of terrorism was clearly on British Prime Minister Tony Blair's mind last week when he told the Commons Liaison Committee that he believed it was "inevitable" that the country would be targeted, given the terrorist network uncovered by recent arrests. After the makeshift ricin laboratory was found three weeks ago, seven North Africans were arrested, most of them identified as Algerians by French investigators; five were eventually charged with chemical weapons production and terrorism offenses. The following week, another ricin-linked raid on a flat in Manchester led to the arrests of four more North Africans, one of whom was charged with the fatal stabbing of a policeman, but not terrorist offenses. Two others were detained for alleged immigration offenses, and a fourth was charged under the Terrorism Act.

To many, the raid on the Finsbury Park mosque was a sign that the ricin scare had finally convinced British police to crack down on what's regarded as a magnet for radicals. For much of last week police trooped in and out of the red-brick mosque, as vanloads of cops kept watch from inside metal crowd barriers. While there seemed little scope for counter-action by angry mosque supporters, authorities were taking no chances. When a hooded youth in a long black gown approached the barriers, an undercover cop in jeans and trainers suddenly materialized beside him. Meanwhile, from inside the tightly curtained mosque, police emerged at intervals with computers and plastic sacks of discs and documents.