AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW pounds for al-Qaedaand provided other extremists with false identities to help them travel to training 1303 camps in Afghanistan. 3.11 Fraud and Forgery in Both Networks This illegal creation and dissemination of false documentation was a common feature of the petty crime committed across the network, including in relation to the plot to bomb the US Embassy in 2001. Jerome Courtailler, Abdelghani Rabia, and Adel Tobbichi were all accused of providing fake travel documents 1304 to the proposed attackers while Mohammed Berkous was alleged to have discussed providing fake 1305 documentation with Nizar Trabelsi. Courtailler was also linked to the supply of fake documents used 1306 1307 during the killing of Ahmad Shah Massoud, while Mohammed Amor Sliti and Tarek Ben Maaroufi 1308 were both convicted of “trafficking false passports” in connection with the assassination. When Lamine Maroni, Salim Boukhari, Aeroubi Beandali and Mohamed Bensakhria were arrested in 1309 Frankfurt, police discovered fake passports and stolen IDs. Other members of the cell who were linked 1310 to similarly fraudulent activities include Yacine Aknouche, who used a false passport to enter the UK 1311 and a fake French passport to travel to Afghanistan. Stolen and false passports were also discovered at 1312 Nicolas Belloni’s apartment when both he and his brother-in-law, Slimane Khalfaoui, were arrested. 1313 Abdelkader Tcharek was found to have used false documents for terrorist purposes, and Mohamed 1314 Aouani, linked to the ‘Frankfurt cell’, allegedly forged and sold false documents, such as passports, 1315 identity cards and driver’s licences. The fraudulent creation and use of false documentation is also apparent in travel of the new IS-affiliated network, with Djamal Eddine Ouali arrested in March on suspicion of being part of a criminal network 1316 supplying false documents, and is believed to have provided Najim Laachraoui with fake ID. Laachraoui was able to use the alias ‘Soufiane Kayal’ when he was stopped at the Austria-Hungary border on 19 1317 September 2015 with Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Belkaid. Belkaid, meanwhile, used a fake Belgian 1318 ID with the name Samir Bouzid. In addition to these examples, the Paris attack coordinator, 1319 Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is reported to have made several trips between Syria and Europe, allegedly 1320 entering the UK using a fake passport. Other members of the network used fake documentation as they 1321 exploited migrant routes into Europe, with Ahmed al-Mohammed using a fake Syrian passport and 1322 1323 Osama Krayem posing as a migrant using the name Naim al Hamed. Another man, Soufiane Ayari, ! ! 1303 ‘Britain’s first al-Qaeda terrorists jailed’, Daily Mail, 1 April 2003. 1304 ‘Dutch prosecutors appeal acquittal of Islamic militants in bomb plot’, Agence France Presse, 19 December 2002. 1305 ‘Suspect arrested in foiled embassy plot’, Chicago Tribune, 23 June 2002. 1306 Simcox, R. et al., ‘Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections’, The Henry Jackson Society (2011), p. 365. 1307 ibid. 1308 ‘Men jailed over Al Qaeda anti-NATO plot’, ABC News, 30 September 2003. 1309 Harris, P. et al., ‘Al-Qaeda's bombers used Britain to plot slaughter’, Guardian, 21 April 2002. 1310 Burke, J., ‘Al-Qaeda trained hundreds from UK’, Guardian, 24 February 2002. 1311 ‘French find a 'goldmine' of information’, News 24 Archives, 10 February 2002. 1312 ‘Brothers-in-law, one considered a key player, investigated in French Strasbourg bomb plot’, Associated Press International, 29 November 2002. 1313 ‘Algerian faces charges of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts’, Agence France Presse, 14 November 2001. 1314 Simcox, R. et al., ‘Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections’, The Henry Jackson Society (2011), p. 446. 1315 ‘A Nation Challenged: Milan; Italian Tapes Portray Young Arabs Operating on the Edges of Islamic Terror’, The New York Times, 29 October 2001 and ‘Libyan terrorism suspect remanded in custody in Germany’, Agence France Presse, 16 October 2001. 1316 Robinson, J., ‘Arrested at gunpoint: Armed Italian police swoop on Algerian linked to Paris and Brussels terror attacks’ Daily Mail Online, 27 March 2016. 1317 ‘How are the Brussels attackers linked to Paris?’ France 24, 21 April 2016. 1318 ‘Mohamed Belkaid, Brussels Gunman, Sought Islamic State Suicide Mission’, The Huffington Post, 19 March 2016. 1319 Whitehead, T. and Colin Freeman, ‘Brussels explosions: The Isil terror cell that spread across Europe’, The Telegraph, 22 March 2016. 1320 Stone, J., ‘Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud 'visited UK over the summer', intelligence agencies believe’, Independent, 26 December 2015. 1321 Farmer, B. et al., ‘Who is Salah Abdeslam and who were the Paris terrorists? Everything we know about the Isil attackers’, The Telegraph, 18 March 2016. 1322 ‘How are the Brussels attackers linked to Paris?’ France 24, 21 April 2016. 1323 ibid. ! ! 101 !