Suspects in Plot Against Belgium Arrested|Belgium Suspects Arrested|nine terror suspects charged

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Police Arrest Suspects in Plot Against Belgium

BRUSSELS — In a series of early morning raids, the police in three European countries arrested 11 people on Tuesday, saying that some were part of an international jihadist group planning a terrorist attack in Belgium and that others were members of a Chechen group.

Belgian television showed pictures of arrests by police officers in two areas of Antwerp, a port city with a large immigrant population, where 7 of the 11 people were detained.

Three arrests were made in Amsterdam, and one in Aachen, near Germany’s border with Belgium.

The suspects were Belgian, Dutch, Moroccan and Russian of Chechen origin, said Leen Nuyts, a spokeswoman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office.

The German authorities said the suspect arrested in Aachen was 31 and of Russian origin. They said he would be transferred to Belgium.

Ms. Nuyts said the arrests were not related to the recent reports of possible terrorist attacks that had put Germany on a heightened state of alert.

Nonetheless, the intense police activity centering on Belgium coincided with concerns in European countries that an attack could be imminent. The arrests were coordinated among the security services of several nations.

The group suspected of planning an attack in Belgium used the Web site Ansar al-Mujahideen, said a statement from the Belgian federal prosecutors. No specific target was identified. The statement said the other arrests focused on “the recruiters, candidate jihadists and financing of a Chechen terrorist organization (the Caucasus Emirate).”

Belgium’s investigations, which began at the end of 2009, were led by Judge Philippe Van Linthout and have resulted in the detention of several suspects in Spain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, the statement added.

In a separate effort to uncover terrorist group financing, the Belgian police searched 17 homes in and around Brussels and questioned people in an inquiry focused on the Belgian Islamic Center.

Tuesday’s raids were the result of an investigation that has been underway for over a year. Investigators in Spain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia have all been on the case. It is believed that terrorists were planning an attack in Belgium, though the precise target had not yet been decided. Most of those detained, all in their twenties, were staying in the northern port city of Antwerp.

Police believe that it is a group of international jihadist fighters that were planning the attack in Belgium. The suspects have been linked to the extremist website Ansar Al Mujahedeen that was used to raise cash and recruit jihadist fighters.

In Antwerp seven people were detained. Those arrested include Belgians, Moroccans, Dutchmen and Russians of Chechen extraction. They will appear before an examining magistrate later today.

Two suspects have been detained across the border in the Netherlands. In Germany too one suspect is being held.

The Belgian police investigation is also focusing on the recruitment of terrorists and the funding of a Chechen terrorist outfit.

Most of the suspects are thought to be linked to the Caucasus Emirate, a Chechen group fighting for the independence of Chechnya and other Caucasian nations in southern Russia.

Three of the suspects that were detained in Antwerp are thought to be members of the organisation Sharia 4 Belgium that earlier came to prominence after issuing threats against the Belgian-Dutch author Benno Barnard.

Belgium’s federal public prosecutor’s office is co-ordinating the operation in Belgium. The office will provide further details of the operation in the course of Tuesday.

The terrorists’ target and how far their preparations had progressed have not yet been established.

Source:NYtimes