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Dutch charge
Marlise Simons The New York Times
International Herald Tribune, Sep. 4, 2002
http://www.iht.com/articles/69610.html
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
PARIS With growing evidence of militant Islamic activities in the Netherlands, Dutch prosecutors have charged eight men with helping to recruit, house and finance fighters for the Qaeda network headed by Osama bin Laden.
The eight foreign citizens were arrested Friday in raids carried out simultaneously in five Dutch cities, said Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the National Prosecutor’s Office. He said that the names and nationalities of the eight men were still unclear “because they had been using false documents.”
They were believed to be from North Africa or the Middle East and had spent an undetermined period of time in the Netherlands, he said.
According to the Dutch Internal Security Agency, the group did not use a known name but had sought out combatants for an international jihad, a statement from the public prosecutor’s office said.
In the raids, the police confirmed that they had first detained 12 men but later released four of them.
The eight men, between 25 and 35 years old, appeared Monday before a judge in Rotterdam, who charged them with being members of a terrorist organization. One of the men, although a suspect, was released for unknown reasons. The seven will have to appear in court again in 10 days.
“Investigators believe the group provided recruits with passports, put them up in temporary quarters and financed their trips abroad,” de Bruin said. He said that it was not known how many recruits they may have handled or where they were from.
The case is now one of three in the Netherlands involving suspected terrorists or members of militant Islamic groups.
In a separate hearing Monday at a Rotterdam court, a judge extended the custody of three suspects, two Algerians and a Frenchman, whom prosecutors are linking to a plot to attack an American base in Belgium near the Dutch border.
A third case involves four Algerians, believed to be members of the so-called Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. They were arrested in April and May and have also been charged with recruitment and offering material support to foment terrorism.
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