France: Terrorist suspect says he was recruited by Intelligence service

France: Terrorist suspect says he was recruited by Intelligence service

Le Monde reports that Kamel Bouchentouf (35), born in France of Algerian origins, also known on the internet as "Brother Abou Zhara from France", was in touch with Salah Gasmi, head of AQIM's information committee and who is designated as a terrorist by the US Treasury.

He congratulated his correspondents with 'shaking France' in their operations in Algiers and promised to promised to 'film a bag while walking' in the streets of France with a 'small homemade bomb'.  Bouchentouf denies the confessions he made while in administrative detention.  He says the videos found on his computer where 'compilations' for the French intelligence services.

The DST (French intelligence) claim secrecy requirements, but do admit that 26 telephone contacts between the defendant's cellphone and two number of the DST in Nancy.  The details of "Alex", a DST official, were also found on the same cellphone.

A local police commissioner acknowledged in the hearing that Bouchentouf attracted the attention of their services, but that he had too much of an unstable personality for contact to be maintained and that in no way was he recruited.  While the prosecutor points out that they found bombs and weapons at Bouchentouf's house.


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Kamel Bouchentouf, detained in France since Mai 2007 for suspicions of plotting terror attacks, has charged French Intelligence services of implicating him in such case after recruited and charged him of infiltrating al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.


During an 8 hours confrontation, Thursday, in the fourteenth chamber at Appeal Court of Paris, Bouchentouf 35 years-old, who used to be a transporter of goods, assumed he "had been a victim of Directorate of Territorial Surveillance" (French Intelligence services), which used him and pushed him to the unknown, he added.


The Court is to decide on the abovementioned case next 22 of January. Bouchentouf further told the judge: "I met members of Directorate of Territorial Surveillance more than 200 times within 6 years," pointing out that they have charged him of different missions, including spying terror groups in Algeria, in exchange of seeing his daughter, who had been taken away by his ex wife.


The Franco-Algerian defendant unveiled that the mission he had been charged to carry on in Algeria was infiltrating some squads belonging to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat GSPC, converted into al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He admitted that Directorate of Territorial Surveillance had charged him of an additional mission in Algeria, to bring him, finally, his daughter back. The think is about, according to Bouchentouf, getting in touch, via terror web forums, with Salah Gacemi, who is in charge of information cell at al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.


Bouchentouf further told the judge he had been terrorized when he was arrested in May 2007 by Special Forces, who stormed his apartment, while charged him with inciting terrorism on French territory for the benefit of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He said such an arrest had been "a conspiracy" to get rid of him, concluding: "if I have not told anyone that I was in prison, I would have had been eliminated long time ago."    


See also: El Khabar (English), see also Le Monde (French)

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