'Terrorists planned to use copters in Paris plot'

By Vaiju Naravane

PARIS, SEPT. 22. Documents seized by the French police on Friday indicate that terrorists planned to use helicopters to attack the American embassy in Paris.

``It would have been carried out by helicopter - a helicopter crashing like a bomb onto the U.S. embassy in Paris. This was the crazy project of the fundamentalist network dismantled in Paris on Friday,'' police sources told journalists here.

French counter-espionage agents now have proof that terrorist cells were preparing a murderous attack in the heart of Paris. During searches in the apartments of the suspects, police found details of the air corridors for Paris and helicopter piloting manuals.

``Everything indicates a commando operation planned at an international level'', journalists were told. The terrorist cell in Paris was in contact with others based in Belgium and the Netherlands. These networks were unravelled last week following information given by a Franco-Algerian, 35-year-old Djamel Beghal arrested in Dubai last July. Interrogated by U.S. investigators, he revealed the existence of French and Belgian networks and their plans.

The French secret services mounted a surveillance operation but the suspects were discreet in their movements. They visited several helipads, took flying lessons without raising undue suspicion. Police say only one helicopter could have taken off from a Paris helipad with out detection. The police have again increased security arrangements at commercial helicopter centres.

There have been simultaneous arrests in Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Germany. Italy today announced it had arrested 60 persons on Tuesday in a vast swoop on radical groups suspected of having links with terrorism. They also confirmed the arrest today of two Afghans travelling with false documents near the town of Ventimiglia, as they were attempting to cross over into France from Italy. Police say they found detailed maps of Brussels, the headquarter of the European Union.

Police from France, Germany, Holland and Belgium have warned that a ``Mujahadin network'' was operating in Europe. Mr. Bernard Michel, assistant prosecutor in Brussels, described it as an international movement. ``Certain persons we are watching are travelling freely around Europe. It is apparent that we are dealing with a Mujahadin network across Europe within the radical Islamic movement. But we cannot say that there is direct link with Osama bin Laden's network''.

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Section  : International
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