Many thanks to all who sent variations on this story. Although Dumont used a forged passport, the 90 day visa reiterates the importance of Daniel Pipes’ observations, Europe’s Threat to the West.
TOKYO (Kyodo News)
“” A senior member of the al-Qaida terrorist network repeatedly entered Japan on 90-day visas with a forged French passport in 2002 and 2003 to hide out in the city of Niigata for about a year, and had telephone conversations with a senior British member of the network during his stay, investigative sources said Wednesday.Lionel Dumont, 33, who was arrested in Germany last December, entered Japan from Singapore on July 17, 2002. He left Oct 5 that year just before his visa was to expire but then reentered Japan 11 days later with a new visa. He repeated this two more times until his final departure last September.
AP reports also that he attempted to organize a terrorist cell (Report: al-Qaida Member Had Japan Base ) and UPI provides further details:
Dumont was arrested in Germany last December. He had been sought by Interpol in connection with an attempted terrorist bombing related to the Group of Seven economic summit in Lyon, France in June 1996.
Japanese authorities apparently are shocked by the fact that Dumont, 33, repeatedly shuttled between Japan and abroad, and remained in contact with foreign nationals in Japan after leaving the country in September, 2003.
Police found records of phone calls from Dumont to Pakistanis and Iranians resident in Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun reported. They are concerned he may have been raising money and forming a terrorist network in Japan.