AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW Maroni, Salim Boukhari, Aerobi Beandali [‘Frankfurt cell’ members convicted in March 2003, 770 Bensakhria had fled Germany prior to their arrest]. -! Al-Qaeda: Said Arif [Bensakhria was reportedly in contact with Arif when the latter moved to 771 Germany after his time with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan]. SLIMANE KHALFAOUI Role: One of the leaders of the ‘Frankfurt cell’ which planned a bomb attack on Strasbourg Christmas 772 market. Bio: A joint French-Algerian national and significant member of al-Qaeda, Khalfaoui had travelled to fight in Bosnia and spent time in Afghanistan and London before he settled in France. He was arrested in November 2002 after a raid at his sister’s apartment in Montefermeil, Paris, from which he attempted to escape. Stolen and falsified passports were discovered in the apartment and Nicolas Belloni, his brother- 773 in-law, was also arrested during the same raid. Khalfaoui was convicted of “criminal association with a 774 terrorist enterprise” in December 2004 and sentenced to ten years in prison. Foreign training/combat: According to the French authorities, Khalfaoui admitted to having fought in Bosnia and allegedly spent seven months in Afghanistan in 1998. Movements: Bosnia (Unclear); Afghanistan (1998); UK (Unclear); France (Unclear). Criminal history: Unknown. Known to the authorities: Authorities had been looking for Khalfaoui in connection to French network recruiting fighters for training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan,775 and he had “been on wanted lists 776 since 1996”. Networks and associates: -! The ‘Frankfurt Cell’: Mohamed Bensakhria, Rabah Kadre, Yacine Aknouche, Lazhar Ben Mohammed Tlili, Abdelkader Tcharek, Meroine Berrahal, Laurent Mourad Djoumakh, Samir Korchi, Nicolas Belloni [Convicted alongside as members of the ‘Frankfurt cell’ in December 2004, Khalfaoui was in direct contact with Bensakhria and Aknouche and was arrested at 777 Belloni’s house, which had also received calls from Kadre]; Fouhad Sabour, Lamine Maroni, 778 Salim Boukhari, Aerobi Beandali [‘Frankfurt cell’ members convicted in March 2003]. ! ! 770 Boyes, R., ‘Algerians jailed for Christmas bomb plot’, The Times, 11 March 2003, available at: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/article1970620.ece?acs_cjd=true; and Tremlett, G., ‘Spanish police arrest Bin Laden suspect’, Guardian, 23 June 2001. Both last visited: 9 August 2016. 771 Hafez, M., ‘Suicide Bombers in Iraq’, United States of Peace Press, 2007, available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0I8m2CnuVooC&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=said+arif+mohammed+bensakhria&source=bl&ots=- wUVgid3u2&sig=HbOddzjNhZylWwNvb- PEq0t4Uho&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjv_KHI8pjNAhWkKMAKHbEfDCsQ6AEIJDAB#v=onepage&q=said%20arif%20mohammed%20bensakhria&f=false, last visited: 9 August 2016, p. 204. 772 ‘Jail for Strasbourg bomb plotters’, BBC News, 16 December 2004. 773 ‘Brothers-in-law, one considered a key player, investigated in French Strasbourg bomb plot’, Associated Press International, 29 November 2002. 774 ‘Jail for Strasbourg bomb plotters’, BBC News, 16 December 2004. 775 ‘Brothers-in-law, one considered key player, investigated in French Strasbourg bomb plot’, Associated Press International, 29 November 2002. 776 ‘Al-Qaeda member among six held in Paris over cathedral plot’, Agence France Presse, 25 November 2002. 777 ‘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. 778 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. ! ! 62 !