Germans Arrest 3 in Continuing Probe
Detainees, From Yemen and Turkey, Suspected of Planning Terrorist Attack

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, September 30, 2001; Page A30

BERLIN, Sept. 29 -- Authorities in Germany arrested three Muslim men suspected of planning terrorist attacks in the country, officials announced today. The Internet mailing list of one of those detained included the address of an international fugitive who lived in Hamburg with three of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States and has since fled the country.

But officials stressed that they have no evidence linking the three arrested men to the U.S. attacks.

The three suspects -- identified in the German legal style as Talip T., 27, of Turkey; Wadee Al A., 24, of Yemen; and Shahab Al A., 26, of Yemen -- were charged with possession of weapons and forging documents. They were arrested Thursday in the city of Wiesbaden, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"The accused are suspected of having planned extreme violent activities against the Federal Republic of Germany as members of a terrorist organization with a fundamentalist Islamic background," the public prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The three men came to the attention of police after authorities scrutinized an Internet site run by Talip T. that solicited money for the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and provided information on "military training for The Fight."

The site's mailing list included the address of Said Bahaji, 26, a German citizen with a Moroccan father and a German mother, who shared an apartment in Hamburg with three of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrahi.

Bahaji is one of two suspected accomplices in Hamburg for whom German authorities have issued international arrest warrants. German officials believe Bahaji, highly skilled with computers, was in charge of logistics for the Hamburg cell, including working with the hijackers so they knew exactly how to secure U.S. visas.

Bahaji speaks German, Arabic, English and French and maintained his own Internet home page, which has since been taken down. Bahaji served in the German military between January and May 1999 before being discharged for undisclosed health reasons.

A student of electrical engineering at the Technical University in Hamburg, he left Germany on Sept. 3, flying to Pakistan via Istanbul. He reportedly told his wife that he was beginning an internship in computer studies related to his university studies. Technical University chancellor Joerg Severin has said the university approved no such internship for Bahaji as required by university rules. German officials believe he may have fled to Afghanistan.

Bahaji also had contact with Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian named by the Bush administration as an associate of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, alleged organizer of the Sept. 11 attacks. Darkazanli has admitted meeting Bahaji and Atta at Hamburg's Al-Quds mosque, where Bahaji got married, but he denies any involvement with bin Laden. He remains under close surveillance in Hamburg.

Police conducted searches at the apartments of all three men arrested Thursday and said they found a loaded weapon, large amounts of cash and forged documents. Authorities also seized computers, cellular phones and an open-return airline ticket between London and Islamabad. In other developments, an Algerian man arrested in Britain under anti-terrorism laws was handed over to France today for questioning, the Associated Press reported.

Quoting French authorities, it said that Kamel Daoudi, 27, was being held at French secret service headquarters in Paris. Under French law, authorities may hold terrorism suspects for up to 96 hours without pressing charges.

Daoudi allegedly fled Paris when seven suspected terrorists were rounded up there on Sept. 21. He was arrested in Britain four days later. The Sept. 21 arrests were made as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to attack American interests in France, including the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

British police confirmed that the arrest of Daoudi and two other men in Leicester were linked to arrests in France and Belgium.

Separately, police in London continued to question Lotfi Raissi, 27, an Algerian pilot arrested in the British capital. Prosecutors have described him as a flight instructor for some of the hijackers. Through his lawyer, he has denied having any involvement with the attacks.

[British police said Sunday they had also arrested a 36-year-old man headed for the United States at a London airport on Friday on terrorism charges, according to news reports. No further details were available.]