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North Africa a new haven for Europe terror
From Jim Boulden
LONDON (CNN) -- The arrest of seven men in London in the ricin investigation this week highlighted the growing list of European suspects arrested since September 11 who have ties to North Africa. But until police revealed that a trace of the deadly poison was found with the London suspects, few of the arrests had stirred as much public concern. British police have not said if the seven North African men who were arrested this week -- six of whom are from Algeria -- are connected to Algerian terror groups. The men have not yet been charged with any crime. A source told CNN on Friday, however, that one of the men had trained in an al Qaeda terrorist camp in Afghanistan. They have not yet been charged with any crime. Yet North African terrorists, particularly those from Algeria, have been increasing their activities through Western Europe and some are known to have connections to al Qaeda, according to intelligence sources. "From all the 200 arrests we have had in Europe since 9-11, the majority of them have been from North Africa. And a significant portion have been Algerian," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. London has been the scene of numerous terrorist attacks over the past 25 years. But revelations that authorities found the deadly toxin ricin, one of the world's most powerful toxins, in one of the London locations raided on Sunday raised new concerns among the British public of the threat of terrorism. Since September 11, 2001, three groups of North Africans have been charged under Britain's terrorism laws. Two Algerian men are awaiting trial in Leicester, England, charged with being members of al Qaeda. They were arrested with fellow Algerian Kamel Daoudi, who is charged in France in a plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris. And, since September 11, Algerians and other North Africans also have been implicated in terror investigations in several European countries. Last April, for example, Spanish police arrested Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian man thought to be a key financial figure in the al Qaeda terrorism network. In Germany, also in April, Frankfurt, Germany, authorities imposed tight security for the trial of five Algerian men with possible links to al Qaeda. Four of the suspects were charged with planning a bombing in France in December 2000. In the Netherlands, four suspected Islamic militants went on trial in December, charged with complicity to plan murder. The group, which included two Algerian-born men, was accused of plotting to set off explosions at the U.S. Embassy in Paris and a Belgian air base. In Britain, three other North African men will appear in court Monday. They were charged in November with having false identity documents. Prosecutors allege one of the men has connections to other Algerian terrorists. This week's discovery of ricin brought the war on terrorism much closer to the Brtitish. "I must admit I'm ... shell-shocked really. You can't realize how close to home these things happen," said one. "It was very frightening. I feel very afraid. I know I have to be very vigilant." The police do not know if any of the ricin has hit London's streets. And they have not said if they've uncovered a specific plot. Those details could be revealed, along with any terrorism connections, if and when the men are charged.
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