Police in Bari, contacted by AFP, were not able to immediately confirm the report. -- PHOTO: AFP
ROME - ITALIAN police in the southern city of Bari have arrested two suspected Al-Qaeda members thought to have been preparing attacks in France and Britain, ANSA news agency reported on Tuesday.
One of the targets on their list had been Paris' Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, the agency reported.
The two men were an imam, Bassam Ayachi, 63, a Syrian who had obtained French nationality, and a French citizen identified as 34-year-old Raphael Gendron, said the agency, citing the two investigating magistrates' file.
According to the file, drawn up by magistrates Roberto Rossi and Francesca Romana, the two men had 'planned and organised terrorist attacks and guerrilla actions'. Equipped with arms and explosives, the two men had also set up a recruitment and training network for militants ready to commit suicide attacks or to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, the dossier alleged.
The two men had already been arrested in November 2008 when they were caught using their camping car to try to smuggle in illegal immigrants from Greece, ANSA reported.
Police in Bari, contacted by AFP, were not able to immediately confirm the report. -- AFP
