AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW Known associates and networks: -! Ricin plot (2002): Kamel Bourgass, Mohammed Meguerba [Bourgass was convicted in 794 connection with the ricin plot while Merguba was tried in Algeria after skipping bail. Both are 795 alleged to have been associates of Kadre through the Finsbury Park Mosque]. The ‘Frankfurt Cell’: -! Mohamed Bensakhria, Slimane Khalfaoui, Yacine Aknouche, Lazhar Ben Mohammed Tlili, Abdelkader Tcharek, Merouane Berrahal, Laurent Mourad Djoumakh, Samir Korchi, Nicolas Belloni [Convicted alongside as members of the ‘Frankfurt cell’ in December 796 2004, Kadre had called Belloni’s home, where Khalfaoui also lived]; Fouhad Sabour, Lamine 797 Maroni, Salim Boukhari, Aeroubi Beandali [‘Frankfurt cell’ members convicted in March 2003. 798 Kadre’s fingerprints were found in Beandali’s home]; Merouane Benahmed [Reported to have 799 been in contact with Kadre]. -! Abu Doha network: Abu Doha [Kadre helped establish Abu Doha’s European network of 800 extremists and is believed to have taken over as leader of the network]. -! Al-Qaeda/GIA: Said Arif, Mabrouk Echiker [GIA fighters associated with al-Qaeda. Kadre 801 helped both men leave Europe following the arrest of Abu Doha]. YACINE AKHNOUCHE Role: 802 Organising al-Qaeda cells in France and Germany. Convicted of involvement in the plot to bomb 803 Strasbourg Christmas market. Bio: AnAlgerian and former chemistry student, Aknouche appears to have travelled to Germany in the 804 early 1990s, before using a false passport to flee to England following an arrest for credit card fraud. He continued to be involved with similar frauds while splitting his time between London and Paris, something 805 he said was approved by preachers at Finsbury Park Mosque, where he is believed to have spent time from at least 1996 onwards. He is thought to have been chosen to travel to Afghanistan by Abu Doha 806 sometime after this, using a fake French passport to travel to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He claims to have met al-Qaeda-linked militants including Ahmed Ressam and Zacarias Moussaoui while there between at least 1998 and 2000 before returning to France, where he was arrested ! ! 794 ‘Killer jailed over poison plot’, BBC News, 13 April 2005, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4433709.stm, last visited: 9 August 2016. 795 nd Stuart, H. et al., Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections, 2 edition (The Henry Jackson Society, 2011), p. 445-6. 796 ‘French court convicts group in Strasbourg Christmas market bomb’, Agence France Presse, 16 December 2004; and ‘Brothers-in-law, one considered key player, investigated in French Strasbourg bomb plot’, Associated Press International, 29 November 2002. 797 Boyes, R., ‘Algerians jailed for Christmas bomb plot’, The Times, 11 March 2003; and Tremlett, G, ‘Spanish police arrest Bin Laden suspect’, Guardian, 23 June 2001. 798 Simcox, R. et al., ‘Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections’, The Henry Jackson Society (2011), p. 446. 799 Willsher, K., ‘Chechen terror group linked to Paris ricin’, The Telegraph, 23 March 2003, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1425416/Chechen-terror-group-linked-to-Paris-ricin.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 800 O’Neill, S. and Daniel McGrory, The Suicide Factory: Abu Hamza and the Finsbury Park Mosque (London: Harper Collins, 2006), pp. 142, 240-241. 801 Botha, A., ‘Terrorism in the Maghreb: The transnationalisation of domestic terrorism’, available at: https://www.issafrica.org/uploads/MONO144CHAP5.PDF, last visited: 9 August 2016, p. 162. 802 Burke, J., ‘Al-Qaeda trained hundreds from UK’, Guardian, 24 February 2002, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/feb/24/religion.september111, last visited: 9 August 2016. 803 ‘Jail for Strasbourg bomb plotters’, BBC News, 16 December 2004. 804 Burke, J., ‘Al-Qaeda trained hundreds from UK’, Guardian, 24 February 2002. 805 Ulrich, A. et al., ‘The Changing Threat of Al-Qaida: How Widespread is Terrorism in Europe?’, Aus Dem Spiegel, 11 July 2005, available at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/the-changing-threat-of-al-qaida-how-widespread-is-terrorism-in-europe-a-364661-3.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 806 Botha, A., ‘Terrorism in the Maghreb: The transnationalisation of domestic terrorism’. ! ! 64 !