DATE=12/20/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=BOMB SUSPECT INVESTIGATION (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257335
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Authorities in the United States and Canada
are trying to determine if an Algerian man had
accomplices in a suspected millennium bomb plot.
Thirty-two-year-old Ahmed Ressam was charged Friday
with trying to bring explosives into the United States
near the U-S border city of Seattle. As Mike
O'Sullivan reports, police in Canada are looking at
possible links between the suspect and an Algerian
terrorist group.
TEXT: Canadian investigators say the Algerian man may
be linked to a theft ring in Montreal, which the
authorities suspect of providing funds to a radical
organization called the Armed Islamic Group. But a
spokesman says Montreal police have not confirmed any
links between Mr. Ressam and specific terrorist
organizations.
Last week, the Montreal Police Department announced
the arrests of eleven suspected members of the theft
ring. Eight of them are Algerian. Mr. Ressam lived
in Montreal, and police say he was arrested there last
year for stealing laptop computers and cellular phones
from cars.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have confirmed that
no explosives were found in a van registered to Benni
Norris, an alias of Mr. Ressam. Meanwhile,
authorities are stepping up their search for a
possible accomplice, who is believed to have stayed
with Mr. Ressam at a motel in Vancouver.
Security has been tightened along the U-S borders with
Canada and Mexico, as officials warn of a heightened
risk of terrorism at New Year's. (Signed)
NEB/MO'S/KL
20-Dec-1999 14:10 PM EDT (20-Dec-1999 1910 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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