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Terror suspect admits links
09/09/2003 11:02 - (SA)
Rabat - An alleged accomplice of French national Pierre Robert, on trial here on charges of leading a Muslim cell involved in suicide bombings in Casablanca, admitted in a court hearing overnight Monday that he received and hid a cache of chemical weapons in the country in the 1980s.
Mohamed Neggaoui also told Rabat's criminal court that he had met Robert three times at the home of another suspect in the northern city of Tangiers.
He denied, however that they had discussed terrorist projects in Morocco.
Robert and his 33 co-accused are charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to undermine state security, premeditated murder and possession of arms and explosives in connection with the attacks in Casablanca.
Boob-trapped cars
On the evening of May 16, booby-trapped cars exploded outside an international hotel, a Jewish cultural centre and an Italian restaurant, and suicide bombers detonated their bombs at a Spanish club and a Jewish cemetery, all in central Casablanca.
Forty-one people died instantly, including 12 presumed suicide bombers. Four more people died of their injuries in the days and weeks that followed, the latest victim being a 34-year-old Moroccan who died on August 16.
Robert testified on Monday that he has worked for French intelligence in the past five years, telling the same court that he had infiltrated Muslim extremist groups and spied on them for the French intelligence services, the DST.
In Paris a French interior ministry official on Monday denied Robert's assertion, saying the ministry had "never had contact with this person."
Neggaoui, turning back to the 1980s, said he was given chemical weapons by members of the Islamist Mujahedeen movement in Morocco.
Arms could be useful
Asked by the presiding judge about the planned use of the weapons, which were hidden in several towns, Neggaoui said that at the time "there was no democracy nor human rights" and that "the arms could be useful in the event of a civil war in Morocco".
"If our goal had been to assassinate political figures, we would have been doing it since 1984," when the Moroccan mujahedeen was created, Neggaoui added.
His case was adjourned until Wednesday.
- AFP
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