AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW He was visited by al-Qaeda members involved in the US Embassy bomb plot including Djamel Beghal and Kamel Daoudi, and is thought to have provided Daoudi with a false passport allowing him to travel 741 to Afghanistan. He was placed under surveillance after Daoudi fled to Leicester following Beghal’s arrest 742 and was arrested alongside Daoudi and Benmerzouga on 25 September 2001. Police found a “forger’s 743 kit” and material relating to the 9/11 attacks in his house. He was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and entering into a funding arrangement for the purpose of terrorism in April 2003 and jailed for 11 744 745 years. He was released in 2009 and has been successfully fighting against deportation to Algeria since. 746 Foreign training/combat: Unknown – believed to have been a member of the GIA in Algeria. Movements: 747 Germany (Unclear); UK (1997). Criminal history: Convicted of conspiracy to defraud and entering into a funding arrangement for the 748 purpose of terrorism in April 2003. Known to the authorities: Not in relation to terrorism until he was put under surveillance following Kamel 749 Daoudi’s arrival in the UK in 2001. Networks and associates: US Embassy and Cultural Centre plot (2001) -! : Brahim Benmerzouga [Convicted together in April 750 2003]; Kamel Daoudi [Arrested together after Daoudi fled to the UK following Beghal’s arrest, 751 Meziane had helped Daoudi travel to Afghanistan]; Djamel Beghal [Beghal visited 752 Benmerzouga in Leicester en route to train in Afghanistan and Meziane had known Beghal 753 when he had lived in Leicester]. -! Finsbury Park Mosque: Abu Qatada [Meziane has been described as a “follower” of Qatada’s and the two are believed to have been in “daily contact” by telephone].754 MOHAMMED BERKOUS: Rotterdam prosecutors linked Algerian Berkous to Jerome Courtailler and Nizar Trabelsi. Along with Courtailler, Berkous was claimed to have spoken to Trabelsi discussing the 755 provision of fake documentation. ! ! 741 ‘Britain’s first al-Qaeda terrorists jailed’, Daily Mail, 1 April 2003. 742 Bird, S., ‘Quiet existence in Leicester suburb masked complex terrorist network’, The Times, 2 April 2003. 743 ‘Britain’s first al-Qaeda terrorists jailed’, Daily Mail, 1 April 2003. 744 Count 1, private correspondence, Leicester Crown Court, 10 June 2009; and ‘Terror-link pair jailed’, BBC News, 1 April 2003. 745 ‘Convicted terror leader with link to Paris whom we cannot deport’, The Telegraph, 17 January 2015, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11353243/Convicted-terror-leader-with-link-to-Paris-who-we-cannot-deport.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 746 Mendick, R., ‘Leicester terrorist cell that laid seeds of Paris atrocity’, The Telegraph, 17 January 2015. 747 ‘Algerian pair ‘plotted to wage holy war’, BBC News, 5 February 2005. 748 Count 1, private correspondence, Leicester Crown Court, 10 June 2009. 749 Bird, S., ‘Quiet existence in Leicester suburb masked complex terrorist network’, The Times, 2 April 2003. 750 Count 1, private correspondence, Leicester Crown Court, 10 June 2009. 751 Bird, S., ‘Quiet existence in Leicester suburb masked complex terrorist network’, The Times, 2 April 2003. 752 ‘Terrorist Pair Helped Raise A Fortune’, Sky News, 1 April 2003. 753 Bird, S, ‘Quiet existence in Leicester suburb masked complex terrorist network’, The Times, 2 April 2003. 754 'Leicester terrorist cell that laid seeds of Paris atrocity', Daily Telegraph, 17 January 2015. 755 ‘Suspect arrested in foiled embassy plot’, The Chicago Tribune, 23 June 2002. ! ! 60 !