Hey, don’t these guys know Switzerland is neutral? A well-heeled group of jihadists, funding their operations in part through legitimate businesses, is apprehended. “Suspected terrorist arrested in Switzerland,” from Swissinfo, with thanks to Noir:
Swiss police have arrested a man whom they suspect of belonging to an Algerian Islamic fundamentalist cell that financed terrorist attacks in Algeria.
Italian authorities, working in cooperation with the Swiss, said the Milan-based cell had raised at least €1.62 million (SFr2.57 million). The Italians issued international arrest warrants for three suspects and charged two others already in prison for separate crimes.
An Italian police statement on Monday said the cell “financed and gave logistical support to Islamic terrorism responsible for massacres in Algeria, including two that killed 18 people in 2005″….
The Milan cell has ties with the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), Algeria’s largest outlawed rebel movement, Italian police confirmed.
The GSPC pledges allegiance to al Qaeda and has rejected an amnesty offered by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika aimed at ending years of bloodshed that has killed 200,000 people.
The Milan cell financed at least two attacks carried out by the GSPC, including one on January 3, 2005 and another on March 27, 2005 in towns southwest of Algiers.
Authorities began investigating the suspected cell in December 2003, tracking its activities and movements through wiretaps and surveillance. It ran legal businesses in Italy, including shops and a restaurant, from which it channelled money to fund terror activities in Algeria, police said. It also provided fake documents….
At least €1.3 million was transferred via banks and another €320,000 was wired abroad, police said. The cash was tracked to Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Spain.
Money also was smuggled abroad via couriers, leading investigators to believe that the total sum being funnelled for terrorist activities was far greater than €1.62 million.