Homeland Security

DATE=1/10/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-298252

TITLE=GERMANY / TERROR ARRESTS (S-ONLY)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: German federal police have arrested two suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist organization at an airport hotel in Frankfurt. V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports, the German Justice Ministry says the two men were arrested at the request of the United States.

TEXT: German authorities are saying very little about the arrested men. But a top German newspaper, the Suddeutsche Zeitung, says they are citizens of Yemen, and believed to be high-ranking members of al-Qaida.

The newspaper identifies one of them as Mohammed Ali Hassan Sheik al-Mujahed, and describes him as the imam of a mosque in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. It says he is suspected of handling finances for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. The Suddeutsche Zeitung identifies the other man as Said Mohammed Mohsen, but does not specify his alleged role in al-Qaida.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry in Berlin would only say that German police acted on a U-S request to arrest the men, and that she expects them to be quickly extradited to the United States.

Another German official says the two men are linked to al-Qaida, but not to the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Germany was a base for three of the four suicide pilots who staged those attacks. (signed)

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