Moroccan Terror Network Planned To Kill Ministers

Source Article HERE.

From AFP: A group linked to Al-Qaeda was broken up in Morocco this week that planned to assassinate government officials and had carried out crimes internationally, Morocco's interior minister said Wednesday. Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa's comments came as Moroccan authorities on Wednesday banned a small Islamist party over its alleged ties to Al-Qaeda. The network, allegedly headed by Abdelkader Belliraj, planned to assassinate Moroccan ministers, military members and Jewish citizens, Benmoussa said. It also had links with an organisation called the Moroccan Islamic Combattant Group (GICM) and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Algeria, which has become Al-Qaeda's North African branch, the minister said. According to Benmoussa, the network had contacts with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001.

"The Belliraj terrorist network planned to carry out terrorist attacks with the help of firearms and explosives, and to assassinate high-profile Moroccan figures," he said. It also sought to organise training in cooperation with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2005, Benmoussa said, and some members of the network had access to training in manufacturing explosives. Benmoussa added that Belliraj had allegedly committed six murders in Belgium between 1986 and 1989.

The party banned on Wednesday was the Al Badil Al Hadari. Its leader, Mustapha Moatassim, had already been arrested on Monday as part of a sweep this week that resulted in the arrests of 32 people. Fassi said in a statement the decision to ban the party, which means Alternative Civilisation, was taken "on account of the proven links between the (dismantled) network and the creation of this party."

According to a security source, a large consignment of weapons had also been found, which had been financed by hold-ups abroad -- notably a heist at a security firm in Luxembourg in 2000. The arsenal included nine Kalashnikov assault rifles, two machine-guns with six magazines and a silencer, seven sub-machine guns, 16 automatic pistols and various munitions and detonators.

Members of the alleged network smuggled 30 million dirhams (2.7 million euros) into Morocco in 2001 following a robbery at the headquarters of the Brinks company in Luxembourg, according to the same source. The money was laundered by the network by investments in tourism projects, real estate and businesses across Morocco. Jewelry stolen in Belgium was smuggled into Morocco and turned into ingots by a goldsmith, who had also been arrested, according to the source.

The 32 people detained so far include a police officer and a journalist, as well as Moatassim. The Moroccan journalist, Abdelhafid Sriti, is the Rabat correspondent of the Lebanese television station Al Manar, belonging to the radical Islamist Hezbollah organisation. Three Moroccans resident in Belgium, including suspected leader Belliraj, are among those indicted. The arrests of some reputedly moderate Islamists have sparked astonishment in Morocco, according to local newspapers.

Following a suicide attack in Casablanca in May 2003 that left 45 dead, Morocco adopted a new law aimed at tackling extremist movements. But the independent Le Soir paper noted it was the first time since then that leaders of Islamist parties had been arrested for suspected terrorist links in Morocco. Two further bomb attacks in Casablanca followed in 2007, whilst there was an attempted suicide attack against foreign tourists in Meknes, east of Rabat, in August last year.