Joesoef
01-08-05, 17:05
Bomb suspect 'has no international terror links'
Mark Oliver and agencies
Monday August 1, 2005
The suspect arrested in Rome over the failed July 21 London bomb attacks has no wider links to large international terrorist groups, an Italian police chief said today.
Carlo de Stefano, the head of the Italian anti-terrorist force, said Hussein Osman - also known as Hamdi Isaac - who was arrested on Friday - had been part of an "ad hoc" group in London.
The police chief also gave new details about how British police had traced the suspect to Italy.
Papers from Scotland Yard seeking the extradition of 27-year-old Osman are expected to arrive in Rome at some stage today.
His court-appointed lawyer has said any extradition attempt, which Italian judicial authorities will have up to 60 days to consider, will be fought.
Italian prosecutors have formally requested to investigate Osman on suspicion of international terrorism, a process which, if approved, could take around a year.
Two Italian prosecutors today repeated their desire to pursue a case against him.
However, Mr de Stefano this morning said it did not appear that Osman was linked to terror groups in Italy, where he has relatives and where he lived between 1991 and 1996.
"Investigative evidence gathered so far does not support the theory that there are links with other investigations in Italy into Islamist terrorism, nor with terrorist organisations active in our country," Mr de Stefano said.
"The behaviour of Osman, as documented by investigations carried out in Italy, leads to it being thought probable that he belongs to an ad-hoc group rather than a structured organisation."
Asked whether extradition could be a lengthy process, Mr de Stefano said: "I hope it won't take very long."
At a press briefing - the first given by Italian police about Osman's arrest - he said Scotland Yard had alerted the Italian authorities on Tuesday July 26 that a suspect in the failed July 21 bombings had fled the UK.
Osman is suspected of the attempted bombing of Shepherd's Bush tube station. Mr de Stefano said police had seen a mark on the suspect's leg which they believed he sustained when jumping over a fence to flee the scene.
He was arrested at a flat in a southern suburb of Rome. British police believe he fled London on a Eurostar train on July 26.
Mr de Stefano said that, on that day, checks on Italian phone numbers that had in the past been in contact with Osman were carried out and ultimately led to his detention in the Tor Pignatarra suburb.
Officers arrested Osman without a struggle after his brother Remzi Isaac was confronted by police and persuaded to lead them to the flat.
The police told Remzi they knew who he and his brother were, and advised him to co-operate with them.
Remzi Isaac was also arrested on Friday, and a second brother was arrested yesterday. Both brothers are suspected of lesser charges, including involvement with false documentation.
Italian police confirmed today that Osman had made a recent phone call to Saudi Arabia when he fled London, but said he could just have been looking for contacts in Italy.
Mr de Stefano said there were five Isaac brothers in total. Remzi and Fati emigrated from Ethiopia in 1989 and were later joined by three others, including Osman. In 1996, Osman and another brother, Wahib, went to England.
The police chief revealed that Osman had falsified his name and nationality in order to enter Britain, pretending to be Somali to gain political refugee status more easily.
Mr de Stefano told reporters that Osman was cooperating with authorities, but would not be elaborate.
According to reports, Osman has admitted taking part in the attempted attacks on July 21. Over the weekend, his lawyer, Antonietta Sonnessa, was quoted as saying the failed bombings had been meant to "carry out an attention-grabbing act", and not hurt to people.
Ms Sonnessa said she would be checking whether the charges Osman is likely to face could be tried in Italy under Italian law because of the current "tense atmosphere" in the UK.
British police maintain that the July 21 attacks were a bungled attempt to recreate the carnage of the July 7 blasts, in which four suicide bombers murdered 52 people on London's transport system.
In the two huge inquiries into the attacks, police are examining more than 8,500 documents and 35,000 CCTV tapes.
Britain is pursuing a European arrest warrant against Osman. European warrants - which became effective in Italy only last week - are designed to simplify and accelerate extradition procedures, and have brought the average length of the process down from nine months to just 45 days, according to a recent European commission report.
Ms Sonnessa today visited Osman in Rome's high security Regina Coeli prison, where there was due to be a court hearing relating mainly to paperwork.
He is one of four main suspects linked by police to the July 21 attacks, all of whom were arrested last week.
Scotland Yard has been given extra time to question another of the main suspects, Yasin Hassan Omar, who arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Muktar Said-Ibrahim, the suspected ringleader, was seen in Rome several weeks before the failed attack, two witnesses told the Guardian yesterday.
Seven other people were arrested in Brighton yesterday in a police operation linked to the July 21 attacks. The latest arrests bring the total of those being held to 19, a figure including all the main suspects and others suspected of supporting the attack or harbouring those responsible.
Police have played down speculation they are still hunting a third suicide bomb cell, but thousands of police were today continuing to patrol London's transport system.
www.guardian.co.uk
Mark Oliver and agencies
Monday August 1, 2005
The suspect arrested in Rome over the failed July 21 London bomb attacks has no wider links to large international terrorist groups, an Italian police chief said today.
Carlo de Stefano, the head of the Italian anti-terrorist force, said Hussein Osman - also known as Hamdi Isaac - who was arrested on Friday - had been part of an "ad hoc" group in London.
The police chief also gave new details about how British police had traced the suspect to Italy.
Papers from Scotland Yard seeking the extradition of 27-year-old Osman are expected to arrive in Rome at some stage today.
His court-appointed lawyer has said any extradition attempt, which Italian judicial authorities will have up to 60 days to consider, will be fought.
Italian prosecutors have formally requested to investigate Osman on suspicion of international terrorism, a process which, if approved, could take around a year.
Two Italian prosecutors today repeated their desire to pursue a case against him.
However, Mr de Stefano this morning said it did not appear that Osman was linked to terror groups in Italy, where he has relatives and where he lived between 1991 and 1996.
"Investigative evidence gathered so far does not support the theory that there are links with other investigations in Italy into Islamist terrorism, nor with terrorist organisations active in our country," Mr de Stefano said.
"The behaviour of Osman, as documented by investigations carried out in Italy, leads to it being thought probable that he belongs to an ad-hoc group rather than a structured organisation."
Asked whether extradition could be a lengthy process, Mr de Stefano said: "I hope it won't take very long."
At a press briefing - the first given by Italian police about Osman's arrest - he said Scotland Yard had alerted the Italian authorities on Tuesday July 26 that a suspect in the failed July 21 bombings had fled the UK.
Osman is suspected of the attempted bombing of Shepherd's Bush tube station. Mr de Stefano said police had seen a mark on the suspect's leg which they believed he sustained when jumping over a fence to flee the scene.
He was arrested at a flat in a southern suburb of Rome. British police believe he fled London on a Eurostar train on July 26.
Mr de Stefano said that, on that day, checks on Italian phone numbers that had in the past been in contact with Osman were carried out and ultimately led to his detention in the Tor Pignatarra suburb.
Officers arrested Osman without a struggle after his brother Remzi Isaac was confronted by police and persuaded to lead them to the flat.
The police told Remzi they knew who he and his brother were, and advised him to co-operate with them.
Remzi Isaac was also arrested on Friday, and a second brother was arrested yesterday. Both brothers are suspected of lesser charges, including involvement with false documentation.
Italian police confirmed today that Osman had made a recent phone call to Saudi Arabia when he fled London, but said he could just have been looking for contacts in Italy.
Mr de Stefano said there were five Isaac brothers in total. Remzi and Fati emigrated from Ethiopia in 1989 and were later joined by three others, including Osman. In 1996, Osman and another brother, Wahib, went to England.
The police chief revealed that Osman had falsified his name and nationality in order to enter Britain, pretending to be Somali to gain political refugee status more easily.
Mr de Stefano told reporters that Osman was cooperating with authorities, but would not be elaborate.
According to reports, Osman has admitted taking part in the attempted attacks on July 21. Over the weekend, his lawyer, Antonietta Sonnessa, was quoted as saying the failed bombings had been meant to "carry out an attention-grabbing act", and not hurt to people.
Ms Sonnessa said she would be checking whether the charges Osman is likely to face could be tried in Italy under Italian law because of the current "tense atmosphere" in the UK.
British police maintain that the July 21 attacks were a bungled attempt to recreate the carnage of the July 7 blasts, in which four suicide bombers murdered 52 people on London's transport system.
In the two huge inquiries into the attacks, police are examining more than 8,500 documents and 35,000 CCTV tapes.
Britain is pursuing a European arrest warrant against Osman. European warrants - which became effective in Italy only last week - are designed to simplify and accelerate extradition procedures, and have brought the average length of the process down from nine months to just 45 days, according to a recent European commission report.
Ms Sonnessa today visited Osman in Rome's high security Regina Coeli prison, where there was due to be a court hearing relating mainly to paperwork.
He is one of four main suspects linked by police to the July 21 attacks, all of whom were arrested last week.
Scotland Yard has been given extra time to question another of the main suspects, Yasin Hassan Omar, who arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Muktar Said-Ibrahim, the suspected ringleader, was seen in Rome several weeks before the failed attack, two witnesses told the Guardian yesterday.
Seven other people were arrested in Brighton yesterday in a police operation linked to the July 21 attacks. The latest arrests bring the total of those being held to 19, a figure including all the main suspects and others suspected of supporting the attack or harbouring those responsible.
Police have played down speculation they are still hunting a third suicide bomb cell, but thousands of police were today continuing to patrol London's transport system.
www.guardian.co.uk