International

Al-Qaeda `chief financier' held?

By Batuk Gathani

Ahmed Brahim

BRUSSELS APRIL 26 . European investigators claim to have identified the "contour and style" of al-Qaeda terrorist operations with the arrest of some 20 suspected militants with strong links to the network. In Spain, police have arrested a suspected al-Qaeda "chief financier", Ahmed Brahim, who has allegedly been distributing cash worldwide, including to a German cell that is suspected to have orchestrated the September 11 attacks in the U.S.

The Spanish Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy, said that the suspect had been financing operatives in at least nine countries, including the U.S. and Germany, as well as Saudi Arabia, China, and the Palestinian territories. Mr. Rajoy said that Spanish police had traced the path of over euro 670,000 that went to support various al-Qaeda organisations, and cautioned that the money could be much higher.

Apart from the two arrests in Spain, police in Germany and Holland have arrested 17 people suspected of having al-Qaeda links. In Germany, 11 suspects were rounded-up this week; while on Wednesday, the Dutch police picked up four men suspected of belonging to an Algerian group that is held responsible for recent attacks in Algeria. The Dutch prosecutor said that "the suspects are apparently responsible for providing logistical support to the international jihad and Dutch police have also discovered several fake passports, as in Germany".

After raiding 19 homes — some of which belonged to members of a Palestinian militant group called al-tawhis — and seizing computers, disks and false passports, police suspect that Jewish and American properties in Germany may have been their immediate targets

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