10 al Qaeda related arrest in Europe

AP/CNN:

Authorities in France, Germany and the Netherlands on Friday detained at least 10 people suspected of helping to fund al-Qaida-linked militants with roots in Uzbekistan, officials said.

One suspect was detained in Germany, another in the Netherlands, with the rest detained in France, said a senior French police official who was only authorized to discuss the arrests on condition of anonymity.

The suspects' nationalities were not given but officials said they were Turkic-speaking.

French police suspect they collected funds for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a militant group said by the United States to have close ties to al-Qaida.

The senior official described the arrests as "preventative" because the funds thought to have been collected were not known to have been used to carry out terror attacks.

The French arrests were made in Mulhouse, near the border with Germany, and in the Rhone region in the south. France's anti-terror agency, known by the initials DST, conducted the French operation.

Suspects' homes were being searched.

The official said at least eight people were arrested in France and that other arrests were possible.

In the Netherlands, the National Prosecutor's office confirmed the arrest, at France's request, of a 48-year-old Turkish man in the the southern city of Tilburg. The man is thought to have received funds collected for an Islamist Turkish movement, said a statement from the prosecutor's office. France is seeking his extradition.

Dutch authorities also raided three houses in Tilburg, seizing computers, papers, telephones, ammunition magazines for guns and what was thought to be a gas-powered pistol, the statement said.

A German prosecutor also confirmed the arrest of a 35-year-old foreign man in Weil am Rhein, near Germany's borders with France and Switzerland. Prosecutor Otto Buergelin said France initially requested a search of the man's apartment at the beginning of May and later sought his arrest.

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Do you think that these arrest were triggered by intercepting their communications?

Hopefully the NSA was able to lead authorities to these people. It is another reason why Democrat opposition to the intercepts of enemy communication makes no sense and is, in fact, dangerous for our national security interest and that of our allies. Requiring the government to jump through hoops to intercept these communications is not just dangerous it is delusional. Allowing al Qaeda's useful idiots who are members of the trial lawyers to pursue companies that cooperate in intercepting communications is political malpractices purchased by campaign contributions.