U.S. makes nation-wide security sweep

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, DEC 31. As the Americans made their countdown for the new year, century and millennium, law enforcement authorities made a security sweep of the country, and in the process, nabbed one or two suspects involved with an Algerian national, Ahmed Ressam, who was arrested in the State of Washington three weeks ago.

In Brooklyn, New York, law enforcement agencies swooped down on Algerian immigrants and arrested one with supposedly known connections with Ressam. On Thursday, police arrested an individual who was with Ressam in the Seattle area; and who had helped him in procuring bomb making materials.

But law enforcement authorities are unable to point out in court documents what the targets in the U.S. were, or in the particular States where these suspects have been apprehended. In the case of Ressam, one assumption is that since he was caught around the time of New Year and was in possession of deadly chemicals or even plastic explosives, he must have been planning for ``hits'' on New Year's eve.

Also on Thursday, Federal prosecutors said that there was a link between Ressam and a woman arrested on the Canadian border in the State of Vermont. In documents filed in court, prosecutors are making the point that both Ressam and Lucia Garofalo belong to the same cell of a ``violent Algerian terrorist organisation'' called the GIA. Ms Garofalo, a Canadian, was arrested on the border travelling with an Algerian national; and authorities have linked her with a terrorist group operating in Europe.

Police, in their sweep across the country, are also focussing on suspected associates of Ressam; and have been detaining people in several cities with a view to putting up a strong case against the Algerian national. From East to the West Coast, dozens of people have been detained; but a spokesman of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is maintaining that detention did not mean involvement in any terrorist activity. What is happening in these security sweeps is that many immigration cases are also surfacing - that is people overstaying visas and so on.

The concerted action by law enforcement authorities have not gone without criticism in many quarters, the main one being that Arab Americans are being singled out in the process and the community made to look bad on account on the constant attention of the enforcement and the media.

The point being made is that authorities are overreacting to terrorism and some people were being treated differently as a result of ethnicity.

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Section  : International
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