Paris Metro terror plot denied by prosecutors
Prosecutors denied today that a terror suspect arrested in Milan and believed to be a mastermind of the Madrid train bombings was planning an attack on the Paris underground system.
Italian news reports said that Egyptian Rabei Osman Ahmed was taped seeking information about the Paris Metro and security there.
Newspapers cited what they said were transcripts of bugged phone conversations during which Osman Ahmed appeared to organise logistics for another suspect who was on his way to the French capital.
Another potential target mentioned in reports was a Nato base in Belgium.
And the ANSA news agency said the wiretapped conversations included a reference by Osman Ahmed to a woman ready to carry out a chemical attack in America
“We categorically deny the reports,” said the Milan prosecutors leading the probe, Maurizio Romanelli and Armando Spataro.
Osman Ahmed was arrested in Milan along with the man he was rooming with, a Palestinian identified as Yahia Payumi. According to Italian authorities, he was planning another attack.
The arrests in Milan were part of a co-ordinated action in Europe that also saw the arrest of 15 men in Belgium who were believed to take orders from Osman Ahmed.
