AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW Bio: 709 AnAlgerian who was given permanent residency in Canada under the name Adel Tobbichi in 2000, 710 Mezbar had lived in Montreal since April of that year. He was extradited to the Netherlands in 2002 to 711 stand trial alongside Courtailler and Rabia over alleged involvement in the US Embassy bomb plot. Mezbar was accused of doctoring travel documents to aid those involved in the plot to travel across 712 European borders and his fingerprints were found at the site of passport thefts across Netherlands in 713 714 1997 and 1999. He was acquitted in 2002 and then convicted on appeal and sentenced to 12 months 715 “for belonging to a criminal group that produced false passports”. Foreign training/combat: Unknown. Movements: Unknown. Criminal history: Convicted alongside members of the US Embassy plot in June 2004 for belonging to a 716 criminal group that produced false passports. Known to the authorities: Unknown. Networks and associates: US Embassy and Cultural Centre plot (2001) -! : Jerome Courtailler, Adelghani Rabia [Tried and 717 718 acquitted alongside the two men in 2002 and convicted alongside them in 2004]. BRAHIM BENMERZOUGA Role: 719 720 Financier. Arrested in connection with the US Embassy bomb plot, Benmerzouga was convicted 721 of funding al-Qaeda through counterfeit credit cards from almost 200 stolen bank details. Bio: Benmerzouga lived in the UK illegally following his entry from Algeria in 1997 from Algeria, where 722 he is alleged to have been a member of the Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) and used fake French passports to gain access to services including bank accounts and benefits. He lived in Leicester and worked 723 at a sandwich factory in nearby Corby. Using at least three fake passports, Benmerzouga worked alongside Baghdad Meziane to develop a vast credit card fraud, as well as purchasing military equipment. He was visited by al-Qaeda members involved in the US Embassy bomb plot including Djamel Beghal 724 and Kamel Daoudi, and facilitated Daoudi’s travel to Afghanistan. After Beghal’s arrest in July 2001, ! ! 709 ‘Paris bomb plot acquittal appealed’, Toronto Star, 20 December 2002. 710 Krauss, C., ‘World Briefing | Americas: Canada: Terror Suspect Won't Fight Extradition’, International New York Times, 27 June 2002, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/27/world/world-briefing-americas-canada-terror-suspect-won-t-fight-extradition.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 711 ‘Paris bomb plot acquittal appealed’, Toronto Star, 20 December 2002. 712 ‘Canada and Terrorism’, ADL, January 2004, available at: http://archive.adl.org/terror/tu/tu_0401_canada.html#.Vzs1OY-cHug, last visited: 9 August 2016. 713 ‘Dutch Arrest Eight on Suspicion of Fund Raising, Recruiting for Al Qaeda’, Fox News, 2 September 2002, available at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/09/02/dutch-arrest-eight-on-suspicion-fund-raising-recruiting-for-al-qaeda.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 714 ‘Dutch prosecutors appeal acquittal of Islamic militants in bomb plot’, Agence France Presse, 19 December 2002. 715 ‘Dutch court jails two for terror links’, Agence France Presse, 21 June 2004. 716 ibid. 717 ‘Dutch prosecutors appeal acquittal of Islamic militants in bomb plot’, Agence France Presse, 19 December 2002. 718 ‘Dutch court jails two for terror links’, Agence France Presse, 21 June 2004. 719 Count 1, private correspondence, Leicester Crown Court, 10 June 2009. 720 ‘A nation challenged: London; British charge 2 Algerians with belonging to al-Qaeda’, The New York Times, 18 January 2002, available at: www.nytimes.com/2002/01/18/world/a-nation-challenged-london-british-charge-2-algerians-with-belonging-to-al-qaeda.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 721 ‘Terror-link pair jailed’, BBC News, 1 April 2003, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2887953.stm, last visited: 9 August 2016. 722 Mendick, R., ‘Leicester terrorist cell that laid seeds of Paris atrocity’, The Telegraph, 17 January 2015. 723 ‘Quiet lives hid a quest to recruit for global jihad’, The Telegraph, 2 April 2003, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1426340/Quiet-lives-hid-a- quest-to-recruit-for-global-jihad.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 724 ‘Britain's first al Qaida terrorists jailed’, Daily Mail Online. ! ! 58 !