Homeland Security

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QUESTION:  Richard, any response to the arrests this morning in London of apparently five to six terrorists found with chemical weapons and with -- do you think that this was in an effort to disrupt a conference which obviously was canceled for next week in London between the PA and the Israelis?

MR. BOUCHER:  I have not seen any link to this other Palestinian conference.  I think that is being affected by other decisions, but in terms of what the British did in the arrests -- obviously we are always in close touch with the British on law enforcement, intelligence and other matters.  I do not know of any particular US role in this event, and I think any information on it would have to come from the British Government.

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QUESTION:  I've got a couple.  Did you get anything on the Hong Kong extraditions that you said you were going to look into?

MR. BOUCHER:  Yes, we did.  The Hong Kong authorities arrested three people at our request.  At a hearing held in Hong Kong on January 6, the fugitives, who have been indicted in US District Court in San Diego on charges relating to drugs and terrorism, consented to their surrender to the United States from Hong Kong.  The United States requested the surrender from Hong Kong pursuant to the agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Hong Kong for the surrender of fugitive offenders that was signed on December 20, 1996, and which entered into force on January 21, 1998.  We are waiting for Hong Kong authorities to provide the authorization for the surrender of these three fugitives.

QUESTION:  Did you guys have -- what did you make, if anything, of this letter purporting to come from Ayman al-Zawahri yesterday, sent to an Egyptian lawyer?

MR. BOUCHER:  I do not have any way of confirming whether it is or not.  Certainly this sort of inflammatory rhetoric has been seen before in al Qaida communications.  But I don't think I can confirm whether it is his letter or not.

QUESTION:  Are you guys following at all the trial of this journalist in Kazakhstan?