Four held in Japan terror raids
Japanese police today arrested four people in raids on homes and businesses linked to a Frenchman suspected of al-Qaida connections.
Investigators searched 10 locations around Japan, including Tokyo and the northern city of Niigata where Lionel Dumont, a French citizen with a history of violent crime, worked as a car salesman in Japan in 2002-2003.
Dozens of investigators flooded office buildings, businesses and apartments in early morning searches, and police said that raids continued throughout the day at the homes of the four people taken into custody and related sites.
Police arrested two Bangladeshi men, aged 26 and 33, a 41-year-old Malian man and an Indian citizen, 32. Three were taken into custody on suspicion that they violated Japanese immigration laws, and one of the Bangledeshis was accused of falsifying documents.
Authorities have been investigating Dumont, who is believed to have entered Japan with a fake French passport in July 2002. He reportedly made several trips to Europe and Asia before leaving Japan the last time for Malaysia in September 2003.
French authorities have long linked Dumont to the violent Roubaix gang in northern France, which investigators suspect of cooperation with Islamic radicals. Dumont’s acquaintances in Japan describe him as a devout Muslim.
Dumont was convicted of a string of violent crimes by a French court in absentia in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison. He escaped a Bosnian prison after being convicted in the killing of a police officer and sentenced to 20 years. Dumont was arrested in Germany in December and was extradited to France last week.
Dumont is believed to have provided money and equipment to Islamic radicals, including al-Qaida, and may have been in Japan to set up a terror cell, local media have reported, citing Japanese investigative sources.
Kyodo News service reported on Friday that phone records show he continued to contact acquaintances in Japan after leaving.
His story has fanned fears that Japan could be a target for terrorist attack. Tokyo has been a firm backer of the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and has dispatched hundreds of troops to southern Iraq on a humanitarian mission.
