France says arrested German is top al Qaeda leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 12, 2003

France says arrested German is top al Qaeda leader

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday a German man arrested in France on suspicion of involvement in the April 2002 synagogue bombing in Djerba, Tunisia, was a top al Qaeda leader.

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French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday a German man arrested in France on suspicion of involvement in the April 2002 synagogue bombing in Djerba, Tunisia, was a top al Qaeda leader.

Police arrested Christian Ganczarski, 36, at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on June 2 and he was placed under official investigation -- one step short of being charged -- last Saturday.

A judicial source close to the investigation said however prosecutors had no evidence of any close link between Ganczarski and Osama bin Laden, founder of al Qaeda network.

"That has not figured in the legal proceedings so far," the source said. He added the investigation now centered exclusively on Ganczarski's alleged role in the Djerba bombing and that he had protested his innocence in preliminary questioning.

He was placed under official investigation for allegedly being an accomplice to murder and belonging to a criminal gang with links to terrorist activities.

"(Intelligence) services know that he is a top leader of al Qaeda, in contact with Osama bin Laden himself, and has been in Afghanistan and Bosnia," Sarkozy told parliament.

"This individual is a specialist in computers and in radio communication services," the minister added.

In Washington, a law enforcement official said "there's a certain degree of interest in our counter-terrorism divisions" in Ganczarski, but he wouldn't go any further.

German officials have said Ganczarski was born in Poland and is a naturalized German citizen.

A US official said he was born in Gleiwitz, now Gliwice in southern Poland, in October 1966, and that he and his wife had converted to Islam.

When his arrest was announced, French police said he was suspected of links both to the Djerba bombing that killed 21 people and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but it was not clear what role he may have played in either.

Saudi Arabia previously arrested and released Ganczarski, according to German media. Germany rejected an application for his arrest last month, with prosecutors saying he knew of the Tunisian attack plan beforehand but played no direct role.

The day before Ganczarski's arrest, police detained Karim Mehdi at Charles de Gaulle. A suspected Moroccan militant, he is also wanted in connection with the September 11 attacks.

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