CENTRAL NEWS 33 GOODGE STREET W1 01-323 2899 2
CENTRAL NEWS 33 GOODGE STREET W1
01-323 2899
26 SEPT 86
TERROR 1
AN ARAB TERRORIST, WHO PLOTTED TO LAUNCH A BOMBING BLITZ IN
BRITAIN WAS JAILED FOR TWENTY FIVE YEARS AT THE OLD BAILEY YEST
(FRI).
RASMI AWAD, 43, A DOCTOR OF MEDICINE, OF COURTFIELD
GARDENS, KENSINGTON, WAS CAUGHT RED HANDED WITH FOUR GRENADES IN
LONDON.
HIS ALLEGED LIEUTENANT NASSAR MOHAMMED, 26, OF ASHLEY
LANE, HENDON, WAS ACQUITTED OF CONSPIRACY TO CAUSE EXPLOSIONS.
MOHAMMED SHOUTED ‘I LOVE YOU’ TO THE JURY.
BUT HE DID NOT WALK FREE.
HE WAS KEPT IN CUSTODY TO AWAIT
DEPORTATION.
HE HAD MAINTAINED HE WAS THE ‘INNOCENT DUPE’ OF A GANG OF
‘RUTHLESS AND FANATICAL TERRORISTS’.
AWAD DUBBED ‘DOCTOR DEATH’ SHOWED NO EMOTION AS MR.
JUSTICE
SIMON BROWN TOLD HIM: ‘YOU HAVE BEEN CONVICTED ON THE MOST CONVINCING
EVIDENCE OF THE GRAVEST CRIME.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK OF A MORE
TERRIBLE CONSPIRACY THAN TO EXPLODE GRENADES IN THIS COUNTRY.
‘WHETHER IT WAS TO CAUSE INDSICRIMINATE SLAUGHTER OR TO HIT
SPECIFIC TARGETS THE MIND SHUDDERS AT THE DEVASTION, CARNAGE AND
HEARTBREAK YOU WERE INTENDING TO CAUSE.
I HAVE NO DOUBT YOU ARE A
RUTHLESS AND DANGEROUS MAN.
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM IS THE GREAT
CURSE OF OUR AGE.
THIS COUNTRY HAS A LONG AND PROUD TRADITION OF
DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM.
HERE YOU MAY HEAR, READ AND SPEAK WHAT YOU
LIKE BUT YOU MUST NOT BRING US YOUR GRENADES.
‘THE PUBLIC IS RIGHTLY OUTRAGED BY TERRORISM AND THE COURTS
HAVE A DUTY TO DISCOURAGE IT.
MANY LIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST IF YOUR
PLOT HAD NOT BEEN THWARTED.
I HAVE NO DOUBT YOU WERE A CENTRAL
CONSPIRATOR.
‘
DOCTOR AWAD RAN THE EUROPEAN SIDE OF ABU NIDAL’S TERROR GROUP
FROM A LUXURY FLAT IN SPAIN.
.
IN COURT HE CLAIMED THAT HE THOUGHT HE WAS COLLECTING DRUGS
NOT GRENADES.
MOHAMMED WAS DESCRIBED BY HIS DEFENCE COUNSEL AS AN
INNOCENT DUPE UNWITTINGLY DRAWN INTO THE CONSPIRACY.
AWAD WAS FOUND GUILTY OF CONSPIRACY TO CAUSE EXPLOSIONS BETWEEN
AUG 22 AND SEPT 23 LAST YEAR.
.
ENDS (TAKE IN BACKGROUND BELOW)
CENTRAL NEWS 33 GOODGE STREET LONDON W1
26 SEPT 86
A LIBYAN DOUBLE AGENT WAS IN HIDING FROM COLONEL
GADAFFI’S DEATH SQUADS AFTER AWAD WAS JAILED.
THE MAN KNOWN ONLY AS ‘MR I’ RISKED HIS LIFE TO TIP OFF
BRITISH INTELIGENCE THAT A FANATICAL TERRORIST ORGANISATION CALLED
‘ABU NIDAL’ WAS ABOUT TO LAUNCH A BOMBING CAMPAIGN IN THE U.
K.
AS A RESULT OF HIS INFORMATION ONE OF ABU NIDAL’S TOP MEN HAD
HIS COVER BLOWN.
DR.
AWAD THE EUROPEAN ORGANISER FOR
THE TERRORIST GROUP WAS CAUGHT RED HANDED WITH FOUR GRENADES IN SEPT
LAST YEAR.
.
INTELLIGENCE SERVICES BELIEVED HE WAS ABOUT TO PULL OFF
THE FIRST LEG OF A EUROPEAN TERROR BLITZ.
THE TARGET WAS HEATHROW
AIRPORT.
THREE MONTHS LATER MEMBERS OF THE FANATICAL PALESTINIAN
ORGANISATION SUCCESFULLY CARRIED OUT MACHINE GUN AND GRENADE ATTACKS
ON ROME AND VIENNA AIRPORTS.
THE THREE OUTRAGES WOULD HAVE BEEN TIMED
TO HAVE GONE OFF TOGETHER-
HIS ARREST MARKED THE SUCCESS OF A NEW POLICY BY
INTELLIGENCE SERVICES TO INFILTRATE COL GADAFFI’S TERRORIST NETWORKS.
MR.
I, WHO HAS BEEN GIVEN A NEW IDENTITY, IS THE FIRST OF A
SERIES OF LIBYANS WHO ARE PREPARED TO WORK FOR THE WEST.
AFTER THE
SHOOTING OF WPC YVONNE FLETCHER IN 1984 BRITAIN DECIDED THAT THE BEST
WAY TO COMBAT COL GADDAFFI WAS TO PENETRATE HIS REGIME BOTH
POLITICALLY AND MILITARILY.
A NUMBER OF LIBYAN THOUGHT TO BE SYMPATHETIC TO THE WEST
WERE SOUNDED OUT.
MR.
I WAS RECRUITED WHILE TAKING AN
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING COURSE WITH BRITISH CALEDONIAN.
HE WAS RECALLED TO LIBYA AFTER THE SHOOTING OF WPC FLETCHER
ALONG WITH 500 HUNDRED OTHER STUDENTS.
HE PRETENDED TO BE PRO-GADAFFI
AND AGREED TO HELP HIS COUNTRY.
BUT AS SOON AS HE WAS TOLD TO PICK UP A PACKAGE FROM A LIBYAN
AIRLINE OFFICAL BY A HIGH RANKING LIBYAN RINGING FROM TRIPOLI HE WENT
TO POLICE.
IN THE PACKAGE WERE FOUR ANTI PERSONAL GRENADES SIMILIAR
TO THOSE USED AT ROME AND VIENNA AIRPORTS.
POLICE SUBSTITUTED THE GRENADES FOR DUMMY ONES AND AWAD AND
MOHAMMED WERE CAUGHT RED HANDED AS THEY PICKED UP THE GRENADES FROM
MR.
I AT WARREN STREET TUBE STATION.
JORDANIAN BORN AWAD HAD THE PERFECT COVER.
HE HAD LIVED IN
MADRID FOR TWENTY YEARS AND HELD A SPANISH PASSPORT.
THIS ENABLED HIM
TO MOVE FREELY THROUGHOUT EUROPE TO ORGANISE HIS GROUPS TERRIFYING
ATROCITIES.
HE IS BELEIVED TO HAVE PLANNED THE VIENNA AND ROME
OUTRAGES.
THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS FOR INFORMATION.
PLSE DELETE NOW THAT HE
HAS BEEN ACQUITTED):
++++++++HIS SIDEKICK MOHAMMED WAS PLACED IN BRITAIN USING THE CLASSIC
SLEEPER TECHNIQUE.
HE HAD BEEN LIVING IN ASHLEY LANE, HENDON WITH HIS
UNCLE SINCE JULY 84 STUDYING A DEGREE COURSE.
HE LIVED THE LIFE OF
A NORMAL STUDENT GOING TO PUBS , THE CINEMA AND DATING GIRLS.
HIS
FRACTURED MIDDLE EASTERN BACKGROUND WAS THE ONLY CLUE TO HIS PURPOSE
HERE.
HE WAS BORN IN IRAQ.
++++++++++++
ABU NIDAL IS BELIEVED TO HAVE AS MANY AS 80 GUNMEN
OPERATING IN CELLS THROUGHOUT EUROPE.
BRITAIN’S FEAR OF REPRISALS HAS
BEEN MARKED BY THE HIGH PROFILE MOVE OF ARMING POLICEMEN AT HEATHROW
AIRPORT WITH MACHINE GUNS.
BUT INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES FEAR THAT HE COULD WELL TAKE HIS
REVENGE ON BRITISH TOURISTS AT A SOFT TARGET ABROAD.
AWAD IS THE FOURTH MEMBER OF ABU NIDAL’S TERROR
GROUP TO BE PUT BEHIND BARS IN BRITAIN.
IN FEBUARY 83 NIDAL’S NEPHEW
AND TWO OTHERS WERE JAILED FOR A TOTAL OF 95 YEARS FOR SHOOTING THE
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR SHLOMO ARGOV.
ARGOV WAS BLASTED OUTSIDE THE
DORCHESTER HOTEL IN JUNE 82 AND IS NOW VIRTUALLY A VEGETABLE.
NIDAL, WHO SPLIT FROM YASSAR ARAFAT’S PLO IS BELIEVED TO BE A
LONG TIME ENEMY OF BRITAIN.
HIS HATRED GREW FROM 1948 WHEN WE WERE
INSTRUMENTAL IN SETTING UP THE ISRAELI STATE.
THE FEAR IS THAT WITH
FIVE OF HIS MEN LANGUISHING IN BRITISH JAILS THE RECENT BOMBING
CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE COULD BE REPLICATED HERE.
NIDAL STATES HIS OBJECTIVES AS EXECUTING ANYONE WHO ENTERS INTO
NEGOTIATIONS WITH ZIONISTS.
HE ALSO PLANS TO LIQUIDATE KING HUSSEIN
OF JORDAN A WELL KNOWN MIDDLE EASTERN MODERATE.
ANOTHER PROBLEM FROM THE ANTI-TERRORIST SQUAD IS THAT NOW NIDAL
KNOWS THAT THE LIBYAN REVOLUTIONARY GROUPS HAVE BEEN PENETRATED HE IS
UNLIKELY TO USE COL GADAFFI’S OFFER OF HELP AGAIN.
THIS WILL MAKE
BRITAIN’S JOB OF MONITORING HIS ACTIVITIES EVEN MORE DIFFICULT.
MR.
I’S REVELATIONS HAVE BEEN A MAJOR EMBARRASSMENT TO THE
LIBYAN LEADER.
MR.
I IS SO FRIGHTENED FOR HIS LEFE THAT HE GAVE EVIDENCE IN
COURT DISGUISED BEHIND A FALSE BEARD, MOUSTACHE AND GLASSES.
HE SAID HE WAS ORDERED TO MEET A LIBYAN STATE AIRLINE OFFICAL
AT HEATHROW.
HIS CONTACT WALKED STRAIGHT UP TO HIM AND DELIVERED THE
GRENADES.
THE LIBYAN DRESSED AS A PILOT APPARENTLY WALKED STRAIGHT
THROUGH THE AIRLINE TERMINAL WITH THE GRENADES IN HIS POCKETS.
MR.
I WENT STRAIGHT TO DETECTIVES WAITING AT A NEARBY HOTEL.
AFTER FURTHER TELEPHONE CONTACT WITH A HIGH RANKING LIBYAN KNOWN ONLY
AS MR.
S.
HE WAS TOLD TO DELIVER HIS DEADLY PACKAGE TO A MAN CALLED
MEKDAD.
THE COURT HEARD THAT MEKDAD TURNED OUT TO BE AWAD.
HE FLEW IN
FROM SPAIN A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE HANDOVER.
POLICE WERE WAITING ON
SEPT 22 LAST YEAR WHEN THE PICK UP TOOK PLACE.
THEY ARRESTED AWAD AND
MOHAMMED AS THEY DROVE OFF WITH THE GRENADES.
THEY WERE COMPLETELY
UNAWARE THEY HAD BEEN SWITCHED FOR DUMMY ONES.
AWAD TOLD POLICE HE BELIEVED THE PACKAGE CONTAINED DRUGS AND
WAS ACTING AS A COURIER TO EARN MONEY.
MOHAMMED TOLD THE COURT HE WAS
AN INNOCENT DUPE COMPLETELY UNAWARE HE WAS INVOLVED IN ANYTHING
ILLEGAL.
BOTH MEN’S HOMES WERE SEARCHED.
SPANISH DETECTIVES WENT TO
AWAD’S MADRID APARTMENT.
INSIDE THEY FOUND WHAT WAS DESCRIBED AS A
TERRORIST BRIEFING PROGRAMME.
UNDER THE HEADING ‘DATA PROCESSING
TASKS’ THE DOCUMENT LISTED NATO PACT HEADQUATERS, EUROPEAN COMMON
MARKET AND THE ZIONIST PRESENCE.
IT REFERRED TO THE NEED TO PROVIDE LISTS OF NAMES AND ADDRESSES
OF INDIVIDUALS WITH THE METHODS USED TO GUARD AND PROTECT THEM AND
THE NEED FOR SKETCHES OF VARIOUS LOCATIONS.
AT MOHAMMED’S ADDRESS POLICE FOUND REVOLUTIONARY LITERATURE
WHICH MR.
GRAHAM BOAL PROSECUTING CLAIMED LINKED HIM POSTIVELY WITH
THE ABU NIDAL TERRORIST ORGANISATION:
THEY BOTH DENY CONSPIRACY TO CAUSE EXPLOSIONS AND ATTEMPT TO
POSSESS EXPLOSIVES BETWEEN AUG 22 AND SEPT 23 1985.
ENDS
