The GSPC cell arrested in France was onto major acts of terror

On Monday, French authorities arrested an Islamist cell in the suburbs of Paris and in Normandy that was planning attacks on the Paris metro, airport and the DST- rough equivalent of the FBI- HQ. Among those arrested is a well-known Algerian terrorist, Safe Bourada. Indeed, Bourada was sentenced in 1998 to a ten-year jail term because of its active involvement in the 1995 terrorist attacks in Paris. He had recruited one of the main actors of the GIA terrorist wave Khaled Kelkal. He also has been in contact with Rachid Ramda, the financier of the 1995 attacks jailed in London and that Britain has refused to extradite so far. Coming out of jail in 2003, he was right away watched by the police.After receiving tips from Algeria at the beginning of this month, French police acted because of the potential imminent threats. In fact, one of the arrested members of the cell confirmed the three targets and added that his group was planning attacks against other European countries. Also, some of the members of this group traveled to Lebanon to gain explosives expertise. And they even thought about launching a chemical or biological attack, using ricin but gave up because of the complexity of the technical aspect. France has been considering the GSPC -an offshoot of the GIA- as its biggest threat especially after July when the US informed the French about the alliance between Zarqawi and the GSPC. And also after the recent GSPC message qualifying France as number one enemy of the Algerian terror group.

The implication of a recidivist demonstrates the importance of more severe jail sentences in terrorism cases. And fortunately that’s what the new French law is envisioning: in this case instead of ten years, Bourada would get 20.