FBI arrests Algerian for plan to bomb Americans

FBI arrests Algerian for plan to bomb Americans
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW YORK, DEC 31: US Federal Bureau of Investigation is questioning several people across the nation after linking three men and a woman arrested on Thursday to the armed Islamic Group or GIA, described as a violent terrorist organisation.

ABC television network quoted investigators as saying on Thursday that they had uncovered communications between members of GIA and a key lieutenant of terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Reports said security in the US had been put on highest alert, a level never witnessed since the World War II, to forestall any possibility of terrorist attack during millennium celebrations. In New York, FBI arrested an Algerian, Abdel Ghani, during a raid on his apartment and charged him with providing support and material in a plan to bomb Americans. Ghani is being linked to Ahmed Ressam who was arrested while allegedly trying to smuggle in bomb making material to the US from Canada, as the nation prepared for its millennium celebrations. Officials said about 50 people were questionednationwide whose phone numbers surfaced in Ressam's records. But analysts warned that possibility of terrorists striking at the height of police alert were not very high.

``They might strike later when the guards are down. If I were a terrorist I would not strike now,'' a terrorism expert said. In a complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court, authorities charged Abdel Ghani with concealing his material support of Ahmed Ressam's efforts to violate the federal explosives laws earlier this month in Seattle. Ressam was arrested on December 14 after crossing into Washington state by ferry from Canada, and United States and Canadian authorities are investigating whether he was part of a plot to plant bombs in the US at New Year's eve celebrations. Ghani is also charged with conspiring with others to deal in and use fraudulent credit and bank cards. Law enforcement authorities said they were not aware of any credible treats to any specific targets, including New York city, which is expecting two million people atits Times Square millennium bash.

The complaint alleged that between December 11 and 16, Ghani travelled to and stayed in Seattle where he was to meet with Ressam. It also alleged that Ghani stated he was aware that Ressam and others were part of ``a well organised group'' and that Ressam had been assigned to deliver his rental car, loaded with explosives, to a parking lot in Seattle where it would be retrieved by another member of the group.

The complaint further alleged that Ghani was supposed to travel with Ressam to Chicago, among other places, to raise funds for the group, but the plan was foiled by Ressam's arrest.