Terror alert on anthrax

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Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but thought it was an important story to post.

Martin

Terror alert on anthrax

By PAUL DALEY DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT CANBERRA Sunday 4 June 2000

Australian and international intelligence agencies are increasingly alarmed at the emergence throughout South and South-East Asia of terrorist groups linked to Osama bin Laden, amid new evidence that the multi-millionaire Saudi extremist has bought biological weapons from a former Soviet state.

Confirmation to TThe Sunday Age from intelligence sources that bin Laden associates recently bought the deadly anthrax and plague viruses from arms dealers in Kazakhstan comes as Australian authorities prepare for the massive task of securing the Olympics from terrorism.

While Australian security analysts still rate the risk of terrorist attack at the Sydney Games as low, they nonetheless believe any terrorist violence would represent an intelligence failure that could only be dealt with reactively and "largely medically".

"Essentially the fight against this sort of terrorism is preventive - it comes down to the agencies stopping the people who do this sort of thing from coming in," an Australian source said.

` "If there is a flaw in intelligence and this sort of (biological) attack happens, we can do little but react and try to minimise the human damage."

As part of the pre-Games anti-terrorism campaign, Australian security agencies are investigating phone calls made to numerous New South Wales addresses in late 1992 and early 1993 by convicted Islamic extremists linked to the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York that killed six people and injured 2000.

In separate trials in mid-1990s, nine bin Laden-linked Islamic terrorists were convicted of the Trade Centre bombing, of planning a day of anti-American terror and of murdering Rabbi Meir Kahane, a US-based radical Jewish leader in 1990.

The Sunday Age has been provided with the telephone records of several of the convicted terrorists and their colleagues, which show the extremists had extensive contact with possible associates in Australia before and after the New York bombing.

The records show that one of the terrorists, Ibrahim El-Gabrowny, made two telephone calls lasting 19 minutes and nine minutes to a business in Dean Park, NSW, early on August 24, 1992. He made two more calls to another business in Yagoona, NSW, on March 20 and 21, 1993 - less than a month after the Trade Centre bombing.

El-Gabrowny was originally charged with conspiracy in the bombing but was later convicted as an accessory to the murder of Rabbi Kahane.

The phone records also show that Mahmud Aboulahimi - one of the bombers who was sentenced to life in jail - and another associate also made numerous calls to NSW before and after the bombing.

While some people who were resident at the NSW addresses have since moved, it is believed that the telephone records have formed the basis of a massive pre-Games Australian surveillance operation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation with help from police and other intelligence agencies.

The Sunday Age also has documentary evidence that shows that another convicted Trade Centre bomber, Mohammed Salameh, was preparing to apply for migration to Australia about the time of the crime.

Meanwhile, sources maintain that Australian security and intelligence agencies are increasingly concerned about bin Laden's growing links with extreme Islamic groups throughout South and South-East Asia.

While international intelligence agencies have established that Muslim rebels in the Philippines - who are currently holding 21 hostages - are getting financial support from bin Laden, there is growing concern that the terrorist mastermind could also be funding separatist Islamic groups in the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Ambon.

"That is a suspicion based on some evidence that is yet to be conclusively proven," an Australian source told The Sunday Age.

"It would be consistent with the spread of bin Laden funding throughout Asia as this guy looks for more swamps (hiding places) that are less detectable to the US."

In April this year the US State Department identified Afghanistan and Pakistan as a new international hub of Muslim extremism.

The department said that while the US was once threatened by state-launched terrorism, the new global terrorist threat was expected to come from small networks of religiously and ideologically motivated groups.

While Australian authorities, including the Federal Government, have repeatedly said there is "no specific threat" against the Olym-pics, sources maintain that a judgment has already been made that any terrorist threat is likely to come from bin Laden-funded groups.

Australian and international security analysts are interpreting the significance of the purchase of biological weapons - including the deadly anthrax and plague viruses - from Kazakhstan arms dealers by bin Laden associates.

"The world has long been afraid of the biological warfare threat, but Islamic terrorist groups have not to date used such weapons against the West," an Australian source said.

"The very fact that it has been established, without doubt, that bin Laden now has these weapons is, by its very nature, of significant concern."

Disclosures that bin Laden associates now have biological weapons coincides with a warning from a leading US infectious-disease expert that the US is ill-equipped to deal with such an attack.

"It is not a question of if such an event will occur, but rather when, as well as which agent will be used and how extensive the damage will be," warned Michael Osterholm, who heads the private Minnesota-based Infection Control Advisory Network.

"Given the enormity of what is possible, we must prepare for a potential nightmare."

The Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence and ASIO are coordinating criminal intelligence assessments before and during the Olympics.

It is believed that they are receiving extensive help from law enforcement and intelligence agencies from several countries, including the United States and Israel

http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000604/A36288-2000Jun3.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 03, 2000

Answers

Sounds frightening, Martin. Thanks for posting it.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), June 03, 2000.

Martin - this topic is completely on topic in my opinion. This kind of thing coupled with technological/infrastructure problems could cripple, even devastate an entire nation. In my mind, it is important to keep tabs on these situations. Thanks for the post.

-- Jen (jen@bunkergroup.com), June 03, 2000.

Sunday, 18 June, 2000

US warns of terror threat to Games

SYDNEY: A former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation agent said yesterday he was concerned that Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden would target American athletes at the Sydney Olympic Games.

United States federal law enforcement authorities are said to have issued an alert to Australia after receiving new information about the activities of Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Former FBI operative Joe Conley said 12 FBI agents had already been dispatched to Sydney, with more to follow, because they believed the Games were a target for bin Laden.

"Osama bin Laden is now a truly global terrorist," Mr Conley told Sky News.

"Any threat that has been attributed to Osama bin Laden has to be taken seriously - he is one of the most capable of all the individuals operating in the terrorist field today.

"Suspicious activity can be anything . . . it's just basically taking nothing for granted."

The Federal Government was aware of speculation about bin Laden and his supporters, a spokeswoman for Attorney-General Daryl Williams said yesterday. "We don't comment on that speculation except to say that there's no specific threat of terrorism against the Games," she said.

The spokeswoman said the Federal Government, in conjunction with NSW police, had been working closely with overseas intelligence agencies in the lead up to the Games. AAP

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news2/news4.shtml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 18, 2000.


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