Federal Officials Reveal Arrest Of Alleged Leader Of Terror Cell

by Wayne Washington
The Boston Globe
November 15, 2002

WASHINGTON - An alleged terrorist ringleader who fled from Michigan was arrested Nov. 5 in North Carolina, federal law enforcement officials said yesterday.

The man, identified in court papers in North Carolina as Abel-Ilah Elmardoudi, 36, of Minneapolis, was accused in an August indictment of directing a terrorist cell affiliated with Al Qaeda. That cell was broken up six days after the Sept. 11 attacks, when agents raided a Detroit apartment and found a stash of false documents and other evidence that seemed to indicate impending attacks in the United States and on US interests abroad. At the time of the indictment, the man was known only as Abdella. Three alleged members of the cell - Karim Koubriti, Ahmed Hannan, and Farouk Ali-Haimoud - were arrested after the raid and remain in custody. Each has pleaded not guilty to the terrorism charges. Their trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 21.

Federal investigators came upon the men when looking for Nabil Almarabh, a former Boston cabdriver whose association with men linked to Al Qaeda had drawn scrutiny. Almarabh is in a Buffalo jail, serving an eight-month sentence for entering the country illegally. His name was on a mailbox outside of the apartment that federal investigators raided, but he faces no terrorism charges.

Even with Koubriti, Hannan, and Ali-Haimoud in custody, federal investigators spent months tracking Abdella. A federal law enforcement official confirmed Abdella was arrested Nov. 5 at a bus stop near Greensboro. He appeared in US District Court the next day in Durham, N.C., and was ordered held without bail.

Abdella's arrest could shed light on what, if anything, he and the other men were planning and how close they came to bringing those plans to fruition. Justice Department officials, citing a judge's gag order, would not discuss the case.

Ali-Haimoud's attorney, Kevin Ernst, has said there is little evidence to suggest the men were plotting an attack. Ernst did not return telephone calls to his office yesterday.

The August indictment offered chilling details of what federal investigators said was a plan to mount "violent attacks against persons or buildings within the territory of Jordan, Turkey, and the United States."

The indictment alleges Abdella, who also went by the aliases Jean Pierre Tardelli, George Labibe, Hussein Mohsen Safiddine, and Nabil Hayamm, directed the cell from Chicago. He suggested the men talk in code, consulted with "brothers" in Europe and arranged financing, according to the indictment, which also said Abdella was an expert in airport security operations, the fraudulent use of telephone calling cards, and acquisition of false documents.

Ali-Haimoud, Koubriti, and Hannan worked at Detroit's airport prior to their arrest, the indictment alleges. Their role in the plot was to case the airport for possible security breaches, investigators said.

In addition to the false documents found in the apartment, investigators seized a dayplanner and videotaped surveillance of major tourist spots like Disneyland in California and the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

The August indictment said the men were part of a radical Islamic movement called the Salafiyya, which demands a strict observance of Muslim law.

The indictment alleges Abdella, Koubriti, Hannan, and Ali-Haimoud were trying to recruit others to join their cause and to participate in a global holy war against the United States and others deemed enemies of Islam.

Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company

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