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Three placed under investigation in plot to attack U.S. interests in France
By PIERRE-ANTOINE SOUCHARD PARIS – Three people reportedly linked to Osama bin Laden and arrested last week in connection with an alleged plot to attack U.S. interests in France were placed under investigation for terrorism Tuesday.
Four others were expected to be placed under investigation – one step short of being charged – later Tuesday on the same count of "criminal association to prepare a terrorist act," judicial officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported that the seven – who were arrested Friday in France, Belgium and the Netherlands – were part of a network likely linked to bin Laden, the top suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The network was allegedly supervised by Djamel Begal, a French Algerian jailed since July in the United Arab Emirates, Le Monde said.
The report said Begal had made several trips to training camps in Afghanistan supervised by bin Laden, and was likely in direct contact with the Saudi exile, according to police.
The detentions were part of an investigation opened Sept. 10 into possible threats to American interests in France.
Begal informed authorities in the UAE about alleged plans to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris and other U.S. targets, Le Monde said.
The seven suspects were not connected with four people detained Tuesday in France in a separate terror investigation. Those four were expected to be released after a search of a suspected arms cache turned up no weapons, police said.
Also in France on Tuesday, the Lyon-based international police agency Interpol issued a worldwide call to hunt down Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian surgeon who is considered bin Laden's top deputy.
Al-Zawahri, leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, is believed to be operating in Afghanistan with bin Laden. The 50-year-old is a suspect in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
AP-WS-09-25-01 1747EDT
Associated Press Writer