Terrorist suspect expected to be transferred from Bosnia to France
By Ward Sanderson,
Bosnia bureau
Stars and Stripes
Soldiers patrol outside Eagle Base, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in January 2000. Troops
searched for alleged terrorist Said Atmani, who was arrested by Bosnian police in April
and likely will be extradited to France. |
Suspected terrorist Said Atmani, one of several men Bosnian special
police arrested in recent Interpol sweeps, is expected to be extradited to France on
conspiracy charges.
On Monday, an official with the Bosnia federation’s Ministry of
the Interior said the transfer was likely but did not give a date.
In April, a French court convicted Atmani of colluding with Saudi
exile Osama bin Laden. Atmani, a former foreign Islamic fighter in Bosnia’s civil
war, was exiled to Bosnia from Canada in 1998 after being charged with credit card fraud.
Bosnian special police arrested him in April in the town of Zenica,
but made no announcements. Officials with Bosnia’s Muslim and Croat interior ministry
only announced that they had Atmani last week following other arrests of suspected
terrorists.
The ministry denied requests for more information and will release
only basic details of those arrested, spokesman Nazif Dinarevic said. The brief statement
labeled Atmani a Moroccan, though other officials said he is a native of Algeria.
A French court convicted both Atmani and Ahmed Ressam on April 6
following in-absentia trials. The same day, a federal court in Los Angeles convicted
Ressam on smuggling and terrorism charges for hauling explosives into the state of
Washington from Canada in December 1999. He currently is in U.S. custody.
Atmani |
The court concluded Ressam was part of a plot to attack millennial
celebrations. He faces a sentence of up to 130 years. Shortly after Ressam’s arrest,
U.S. peacekeepers in Bosnia kept a look out for Atmani in case he attempted an attack on
bases there.
Interpol officials in Bosnia and France would not discuss the Atmani
arrest, and the length of his French sentence was unavailable. Ressam’s French
sentence for the same crimes, however, was five years.
Canadian authorities believe Atmani and Ressam were roommates in
Montreal and that Ressam sold stolen laptop computers and cellular phones to raise money
for terrorist attacks. International officials label Atmani an expert document forger for
the GIA, the French abbreviation for Armed Islamic Group. The GIA is a band of radical
fundamentalists formed to fight secular authorities in Algeria, a former French colony.
France blames the shadowy militants for the hijacking of an Air
France jetliner in 1994 and Paris subway bombings in 1995 and 1996. Both subway attacks
used gas canisters, black powder and a hail of nails to kill 10 people and injure nearly
200 more.
Ralf Mutschke, a criminal intelligence chief with Interpol, warned
Congress in December that the GIA is a real threat with footholds on several continents.
“The group in Montreal was in contact with individuals involved
in terrorist support activity in France, and with several Mujhadeen groups who are active
in Bosnia,” Mutschke was quoted as saying in a Congressional transcript. Funds from
criminal enterprises in Canada “were sent to an international network with links to
France, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Bosnia.”
American efforts to try anyone connected with the millennial
conspiracy continue.
Earlier this month, U.S. prosecutors charged a London-based Algerian
with conspiring to blow up Los Angeles International airport during New Year’s 2000
celebrations. They believe the man — Dr. Haydar Abu Doha — is a key figure in
bin Laden's terrorist network.
Assistant U.S. attorney Robin Baker, who successfully prosecuted a
case against another Ressam associate this month in New York, could not be reached for
comment. Spokesman Herbert Hadad said he was not familiar with the arrest.
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