Report: Britain launches manhunt for Moroccan national in bomb probe

[Monkie]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/597431.html

"The investigation into the London bombings which left nearly 50 dead and hundreds injured Thursday appears to be focusing on a Moroccan national who has mysteriously gone missing from the British capital in recent days.

Scotland Yard and MI5 have urgently requested help from European agencies in tracking down a Moroccan national who has been living in Britain for 16 years and who is suspected of past terrorist activity in Europe and North Africa, the daily newspaper The Independent reported in Saturday editions.

Mohammed al-Gerbouzi, who has also been linked to terrorist attacks in Madrid and Casablanca, disappeared from his home in London recently."

no idea if this is credible,interesting that he was linked to the attacks in Madrid and Casablanca and in these days of rendition and detention without trial "they" let him wander about Britain (remember britain has people held without trial under anti-terror laws too)

[allemand]

1. More information about Al Guerbouzi (also called Abou Aïssa)

He was suspected of being one of the leaders of the Moroccan Islamic Fighter's Group (GICM), and was condemned to a 20-year prison term by the Moroccan justice. (...)

Al Guerbouzi, who holds both the Moroccan and the British nationality, is also said to have lived in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

In Peshawar, near the border with Pakistan, he is said to have participated in the creation of a little known group, “the Moroccan Islamic Movement,” which later became the “Moroccan Fighters' Islamic Group” (GIMC). (...)

The GIMC is said to be linked to be financed by Al-Qaeda and even to be linked to the Marrakech attacks in 1994.

More:
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=6&id=7995

[Monkie]

2. its strange he had political asylum in Britain while wanted by Marocco

from the haaretz piece:
"Morocco has repeatedly requested the British government extradite al-Gerbouzi, who was granted political asylum in the UK. Al-Gerbouzi was convicted of involvement in terrorist attacks in Casablanca which killed 44 people. After being tried in absentia, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Independent reported."

you would think it unusual that Britain gives political asylum to a radical islamist

[allemand]

3. He probably got asylum and a British passport well before the Casablanca

bombings:

Mr Gerbouzi was born in Morocco but has lived in London since 1974. He accepts that his visits to Pakistan and Turkey had raised suspicion, and described himself as an outspoken critic of the Moroccan government. (...)

A father-of-six who lives in a flat in north London, he told the Guardian that he had followed his father, a hotelier, to Britain from Larache, a coastal town not far from Tangiers, in 1974, and became a British citizen in the mid-nineties.

Terror suspect claims he has been smeared
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1178245,00.html

More quotes from the Guardian interview:

"The British and Moroccan authorities know where I live and have my telephone numbers. I'm not hiding away in a forest. If they have proof they must come forward and present it."
(...)

And contrary to reports in some British papers, he said, he did not go into hiding after the Madrid killings. "I continued to take my children to school and attend the mosque. I'm here talking to you. I have nothing to hide." :eyes:

[TahitiNut]

4. "Round up the usual suspects."

:eyes:

[allemand]

5. Well, this time he really did go into hiding:

Only hours after the attacks, the British police discovered he was missing from the north-west London house where he lived with his wife and six children, reported MAP.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=6&id=7995

Correction:

It seems that he went into hiding already in April last year (shortly after the interview...) :

Gerbouzi lived in England with his wife and children, but it is understood he vanished from his London flat in April last year.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=763632005

[1932]

8. I think there's a mistake here -- post 1 says he has dual-citizenship.

If he does, then he wouldn't be seeking asylum in the UK. He would have a right to remain in the UK based on citizenship.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. I am shocked and awed that he wasn't an Iraqi operative, one of

Saddam's thugs... whooda thunk it?

[allemand]

7. A second suspect: Mustafa Setmariam Nasar

The man behind the blasts
10jul05

BRITISH police are hunting for two notorious al-Qaida terrorists whom they suspect were the masterminds behind the London bomb blasts.

Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, the one-time leading light of London's radical Islamic scene, and Mohammed al-Gerbouzi, are now Britain's most wanted men.
Nasar, 46, a poisons and chemicals expert, is on a most wanted list in the US and there is a $6.7 million reward for his capture.

Terrorist expert Lorenzo Vidino, from the Washington-based institute The Investigative Project, (...) said Nasar was also the spiritual mentor for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Iraqi terrorist leader. (...)

Nasar, a Syrian veteran of the Afghan war against the Soviets, was once the European representative for al-Qaida before he joined Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. While there, he trained al-Qaida foot soldiers in terrorist camps.

More:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,15877727%255E661,00.html

Mohammed al-Gerbouzi
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,5025482,00.jpg

Three men allegedly implicated in the Madrid bombings are said to have British links, including a Syrian living in London. His brother was arrested by police in Spain accused of sheltering some of the bombers and was also questioned about suicide bombings in Casablanca which killed 45 people.

Abdelkarim el Mejjati, also known as Abu Elyas, vanished from Spain a few days before the Madrid bombings and was sighted in London. He was convicted in absentia in Tunisia for the Casablanca bombings.

An alleged ringleader of the Madrid attack, Mustapha Setmarian Nassar, also Syrian-born, lived in north London in the late 1990s and is said to have been a visitor to the mosque at Finsbury Park. There had been sightings of him in London after the Madrid bombings, although US authorities, who have placed a US$5m bounty on him, maintain he is now in Iraq where he has established links with the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born militant who runs al Qaeda in Iraq.

Nassar is known to have associated with Abu Qatada, one of the detainees released from Belmarsh in March this year, while he lived in London. Spanish authorities claim that Qatada, described by a British judge as a "truly dangerous" individual, also had links with Abu Dahdah, another Syrian living in Spain who was arrested there on suspicion of recruiting bombers.

More:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334851

[cal04]

9. Moroccan denies involvement in London attacks

A Moroccan widely named in media reports as a possible suspect in the London bombings appeared on Al Jazeera television on Saturday to declare his innocence and deny he was on the run. Mohammed al-Qarbouzy told the Arabic station: "I affirm that I am not in hiding or on the run and the British police are not looking for me because they know where I live and my address."

The Moroccan spoke out after a flurry of British and international press reports saying police across Europe were searching for him in connection with Thursday's bombings, which killed more than 50 people in the British capital. He was interviewed in Al Jazeera's London studio, with the landmark Big Ben clock tower visible in the background, and shown with his face blacked out. The channel said this was at Qarbouzy's request.

Referring to media allegations that he was involved in last year's Madrid train bombings, Qarbouzy said: "I also affirm that there is no official accusation against me from Spanish authorities about any event." He added: "The papers are publishing false rumours about me and I beg them all to stop". Police have declined to comment on the identities of any suspects in Thursday's bomb attacks on three underground trains and a bus. Three Islamic militant groups claimed responsibility, and while none of the claims have been verified, British officials said the blasts bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5932088&cKey=1120937726000

[allemand]

10. Wow! Now I wonder who was the source for all these false rumors.

Very strange. :wow:

[allemand]

11. In fact, this is so widespread that I suspect that a mayor news agency

like Reuters, AP or AFP is the culprit.

I wonder how long it's going to take until they realize that "al-Qarbouzy", "al-Gerbouzi" and "al-Garbuzi" all refer to the same person...