The Hindu : Al Qaeda operative held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002

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Al Qaeda operative held

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington June 10. An American has been arrested on the charge of conspiring with terrorists to build and detonate a "dirty bomb'' in the United States, possibly in Washington D.C.

The Attorney General, John Ashcroft, said, "We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb''. Abdullah Al Mujahir is kept under military custody and treated as an enemy combatant. Mujahir, also going by the name of Jose Padilla, is said to be a one-time member of a Chicago street gang. He was arrested as he flew into Chicago's O'Hare airport from Pakistan.

He is said to have been trained by the Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He did not have any bomb at the time of his apprehension, officials said.

Mujahir was transfered from the Justice Department to the Defence Department officials in New York City, and he is being kept in a high security naval facility in Charleston, South Carolina. Sridhar

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