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Al Qaeda suspects arrested in Spain
Page 1 of 2
Heratcicoriri Posted on Fri, Apr. 26, 2002
Al Qaeda suspects arrested in Spain BY SEBASTIAN ROTELLA Los Angeles Times Service
MADRID - Hiding behind a facade of respectability, the alleged masterminds of an al Qaeda finance base in Spain used profits from their construction and real estate companies to fund terrorists around the world, Spain's interior minister said. Spanish police made two arrests in three days this week in a crackdown on the alleged operation, capturing a Syrian-born Spaniard and his business partner. The investigation has documented the movement of at least $600,000 to significant figures linked to the Sept. 11 attacks, the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, an attempted assassination in Yemen and other terrorist acts, according to Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy. "As far as we know, the suspects dedicated themselves to real estate, constructing residences, etc., which is obviously legal activity," Rajoy said. '' But it's another thing that they dedicated the profits to activities that weren't legal." The profiles of the suspected financiers contrasts with other alleged al Qaeda operatives whose cells were dismantled around Europe since Sept. 11. Many suspects arrested in France, Belgium and elsewhere financed themselves with crimes such as credit card fraud; many come from backgrounds of student radicalism, immigrant ghettos or prisons. The post-Sept. 11 crackdown in Madrid, however, has targeted a group of Syrians who immigrated here decades ago, married Spanish women, obtained citizenship and established middle and even upper-middle class lives. If the men are guilty, they are the ultimate "sleeper" terrorists. Accustomed to stereotypes of shaggy fanatics and scruffy illegal immigrants, Spaniards were taken aback by the appearance of alleged chief financier Muhammed Caleb Kalaje Zouaydi, the dapper businessman with a neatly trimmed beard who was arrested Tuesday. Police arrested Zouaydi's business partner, Ghasoub Abrash Ghalyoun, at his office Wednesday. A third partner, Bassam Dalati Satut, was jailed in November, along with seven other accused accomplices of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Dalati's arrest stunned his friends. Not only does his non-Muslim Spanish wife work in a government ministry, their children attend a British school, according to his lawyers. But investigators say they found the name of a known al Qaeda training camp boss on a document locked in a trunk in one of the children's bedroom.
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As for Zouaydi, a global money trail allegedly connects him to an international rogue's gallery of suspects. Instead of laundering illegal proceeds, police said, he allegedly donated to criminal causes. Authorities say they documented transfers of about $44,000 to Imad Eddin Barrakat Yarkas, the alleged
http://www.miami.eom/mld/miamiherald/news/world/3140046.htm?template=contentModules... 6/4/03
Page 1 of 2
Heratcicoriri Posted on Fri, Apr. 26, 2002
Al Qaeda suspects arrested in Spain BY SEBASTIAN ROTELLA Los Angeles Times Service
MADRID - Hiding behind a facade of respectability, the alleged masterminds of an al Qaeda finance base in Spain used profits from their construction and real estate companies to fund terrorists around the world, Spain's interior minister said. Spanish police made two arrests in three days this week in a crackdown on the alleged operation, capturing a Syrian-born Spaniard and his business partner. The investigation has documented the movement of at least $600,000 to significant figures linked to the Sept. 11 attacks, the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, an attempted assassination in Yemen and other terrorist acts, according to Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy. "As far as we know, the suspects dedicated themselves to real estate, constructing residences, etc., which is obviously legal activity," Rajoy said. '' But it's another thing that they dedicated the profits to activities that weren't legal." The profiles of the suspected financiers contrasts with other alleged al Qaeda operatives whose cells were dismantled around Europe since Sept. 11. Many suspects arrested in France, Belgium and elsewhere financed themselves with crimes such as credit card fraud; many come from backgrounds of student radicalism, immigrant ghettos or prisons. The post-Sept. 11 crackdown in Madrid, however, has targeted a group of Syrians who immigrated here decades ago, married Spanish women, obtained citizenship and established middle and even upper-middle class lives. If the men are guilty, they are the ultimate "sleeper" terrorists. Accustomed to stereotypes of shaggy fanatics and scruffy illegal immigrants, Spaniards were taken aback by the appearance of alleged chief financier Muhammed Caleb Kalaje Zouaydi, the dapper businessman with a neatly trimmed beard who was arrested Tuesday. Police arrested Zouaydi's business partner, Ghasoub Abrash Ghalyoun, at his office Wednesday. A third partner, Bassam Dalati Satut, was jailed in November, along with seven other accused accomplices of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Dalati's arrest stunned his friends. Not only does his non-Muslim Spanish wife work in a government ministry, their children attend a British school, according to his lawyers. But investigators say they found the name of a known al Qaeda training camp boss on a document locked in a trunk in one of the children's bedroom.
.
As for Zouaydi, a global money trail allegedly connects him to an international rogue's gallery of suspects. Instead of laundering illegal proceeds, police said, he allegedly donated to criminal causes. Authorities say they documented transfers of about $44,000 to Imad Eddin Barrakat Yarkas, the alleged
http://www.miami.eom/mld/miamiherald/news/world/3140046.htm?template=contentModules... 6/4/03
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