Muslim extremists suspected of al-Qaida jailbreak plot arrested in Belgium
Extra police were deployed across the capital at airports, subway stations and other public places. The US Embassy warned Americans of “a heightened risk of terrorist attack in Brussels” although it had no indication of any American targets.
Police arrested the 14 in night raids across the country and discovered arms and explosives apparently intended for the jailbreak.
The prisoner, Nizar Trabelsi, a 37-year-old Tunisian who played soccer for several German teams, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years in jail four years ago. He had admitted planning to drive a car bomb into the canteen at Kleine Brogel,a Belgian air base where about 100 American military personnel are stationed.
Trabelsi was sent to the high-security unit of Lantin jail, 96km east of Brussels, but there have been reports that he has since been moved.
The federal prosecutor’s office said the 14 were planning to free Trabelsi by force, and the government did not rule out the possibility that other attacks had been planned.
“If a group with an extremist view of Islam were ready to use arms and explosives to release Mr Trabelsi, there is no guarantee that they would not use them for other ends,” said Lieve Pellens, spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor’s office.
The Kleine Brogel base is home to Belgian F-16 warplanes equipped with nuclear weapons that are under US control, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a US- based military affairs think tank.
Trabelsi, who testified that he intended to kill US soldiers, says he met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and asked to become a suicide bomber. He was arrested in Brussels on September 13, 2001. He came to Europe in 1989 for a tryout with the German first division team Fortuna Duesseldorf.
He then moved between minor league teams, acquiring a cocaine habit and a lengthy criminal record.
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