Pakistan Makes More al-Qaida Arrests
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Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Pakistani authorities have arrested
several al-Qaida suspects in recent days, believed to be linked to
others in custody who provided intelligence leading to the arrest
of a key fugitive and Washington's issuing a terror attack warning,
officials said Tuesday.
Among those arrested was Raja Waqar, a policeman assigned to the
office of Punjab province's top politician. Waqar is suspected of
informing al-Qaida-linked groups about the whereabouts of top
government officials, a high-ranking intelligence official in the
eastern city of Lahore told The Associated Press.
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Another detainee identified himself as Juma Ibrahim, a Syrian.
He was arrested Sunday at a bus station in Hafizabad, a town near
Lahore, and was turned over to Pakistan's spy agency, said district
police chief Aslam Ghauri.
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
a third man was arrested trying to board a plane in Lahore with
questionable documents. He gave no further details.
It was not clear how significant the latest detainees were, but
the official said they were believed to be linked to other al-Qaida
suspects in custody, including a computer expert identified as
Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan who was arrested July 13.
Information provided by Khan led to the arrest in eastern Gujrat
on July 25 of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian al-Qaida suspect
wanted in the United States for the 1998 twin East Africa embassy
bombings, said an intelligence official in Lahore who was involved
in the raid on Ghailani.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Monday that
Ghailani's computers contained e-mails with instructions for
attacks in the United States and Britain.
Intelligence gained from Khan's and other arrests was a major
factor in U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's decision to
issue a warning Sunday about a possible al-Qaida attack on
prominent financial institutions in New York, Washington and
Newark, N.J.
Pakistani officials are also pointing to the arrest in June of
Masrab Arochi, nephew of former al-Qaida No. 3 Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed, as providing useful intelligence. Arochi was among 10
suspects arrested in raids in the southern port city of Karachi.
An intelligence official in the capital, Islamabad, said Arochi
led police to a network of al-Qaida operatives and that several
as-yet-undisclosed arrests have been made. He would not confirm any
direct link between Arochi and the arrest of Khan, the computer
expert, but said Arochi has been made available to U.S.
intelligence agents.
Pakistan has vowed not to turn him over to the United States.
Meanwhile, details emerged about the hunt that led authorities
to Ghailani, the suspect in the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and
Tanzania that killed more than 200 people, including 12 Americans.
Ghailani arrived in Pakistan on a Kenyan Airlines flight to
Karachi on Aug. 6, 1998, a day before the attacks. He was a ghost
until his arrest nearly six years later, apparently as he planned
to flee the country.
A senior intelligence official told The Associated Press that
Ghailani spent some time in the tribal area of South Waziristan
before traveling in recent weeks to Gujrat. Al-Qaida
"facilitators" arranged for him to hide in several local houses
in the tribal area and stay out of sight, said the official, who
asked that his name not be used.
Officials also believe Ghailani was in hiding for a while in the
southern port city of Karachi, home to a number of local extremist
groups as well as al-Qaida, and in Lahore.
"We were searching for him for a while and we were several days
behind him in different cities, until the moment was right and we
caught him," the senior Pakistani government official said.
Raja Munawar Hussain, the police chief in Gujrat, told AP that a
front man who leased a car and opened a bank account for Ghailani
also was arrested.
The police chief also said that during the 12-long shootout that
led to Ghailani's arrest, he received several threatening calls on
his cell phone in English and Urdu, Pakistan's main language.
'"The people inside the house are serving Islam and any harm to
them will be dangerous for you,"' Hussain said the caller warned
him.
"They were highly organized terrorists. They were so well
informed that they remained in touch with their men [on the
outside] during the raid."
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