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News of Jan
6, 2007
US, UK Struggle to Crack
Pakistan's Terror Pipeline: Newsweek
by
Arun Kumar
Washington, Jan 6
Authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom are facing
several hurdles as they crack down on a "pipeline" of operatives,
supporters and financiers that shuttles terrorists from Pakistan,
according to Newsweek.
This, the American newsmagazine reported in a web exclusive, became
apparent from the case of Mohammed al-Ghabra, a 26-year-old London
man who was named as a major organizer for Al Qaeda and other terror
groups, including Iraqi insurgents, by the Bush administration just
before Christmas.
In a statement accompanying its formal order freezing any US assets
Ghabra might control, US Treasury official Adam Szubin alleged that
the target of the sanctions "has backed Al Qaeda and other violent
jihadist groups, facilitating travel for recruits seeking to meet
with Al Qaeda leaders and taken part in terrorist training."
The Treasury statement also accused Ghabra of maintaining contact
with UK-based jihadists involved in the radicalization of British
Muslims through the dissemination of "extremist" media; Ghabra was
also accused of training at a terror camp in Kashmir run by a
jihadist group called Harakat Ul-Mujahidin.
Ghabra, it said, also "facilitated the travel of UK-based
individuals to Iraq" to support insurgents there and that Ghabra met
in Pakistan with alleged Al Qaeda operatives, including the group's
one-time chief of operations (who later was captured by the
Pakistanis).
Some of the would-be terrorists that Ghabra allegedly helped travel
to Pakistan subsequently returned to the UK to "engage in covert
activity on behalf of Al Qaeda."
During a visit to Pakistan in 2002, Ghabra himself allegedly met
with and stayed at the home of Abu Faraj al-Libi, who at the time
was believed to have succeeded 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed as Al Qaeda chief of operations, it said.
The information that the US Treasury Department made public in its
announcement freezing Ghabra's assets certainly appears to affirm
his role as an alleged terrorist fixer, Newsweek said, but suggested
it had left out a potentially important detail: British authorities
have already attempted-unsuccessfully-to prosecute him on
terror-related charges.
Newsweek said a spokeswoman for Britain's Crown Prosecution Service
had confirmed that in 2004, a London jury acquitted Ghabra of fraud
and terror charges. Court officials confirmed that records show
Ghabra was acquitted on charges of conspiracy to defraud and
possession of a document or record that could be useful to
terrorists.
US and UK officials, who asked for anonymity because they were
discussing sensitive material, said that since his acquittal, Ghabra
has been a free man living in Britain, the magazine said.
Newsweek cited a US intelligence official as saying that US agencies
do not necessarily believe that Ghabra is dangerous or violent
himself; but he is regarded as a "key cog" and a serious "player" in
an alleged human pipeline that arranges for alienated British Muslim
youths-many of them born in the UK of Pakistani heritage-to travel
to Pakistan for indoctrination and training at temporary terrorist
"camps" believed to be operated by Al Qaeda leaders.
US authorities say the UK-Pakistan pipeline has played a role in
several planned terrorist plots, including the alleged plot last
summer to blow up airliners flying between the Britain and the
United States.
At least two of the four suicide bombers who blew themselves up on
London underground trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, are believed to
have visited Pakistan in the years and months before they committed
their attacks.
The US intelligence official, as well as a source familiar with
British intelligence reporting, said that agencies on both sides of
the Atlantic had information linking Ghabra to some of the
well-known plots, Newsweek said.
IANS
News of Jan
6, 2007
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