Sydney man linked to KSM and Massoud Assasination

Sydney man linked to 9/11 boss

News.com.au -October 31, 2003

By Trudy Harris

Update: Attorney-General Philip Ruddock quiet on Brigitte terror plot (11/03)

ASIO has allegedly accused a 26-year-old Australian security guard of links to the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Intelligence agents also accused the Sydney man of connections to 12 terrorist groups including al-Qaeda and HUM, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan.

The accusations were made when intelligence officers questioned the Australian man at his Sydney home on Sunday for several hours.

The questioning was part of ASIO-led raids across western suburbs targeting six homes in connection to deported French al-Qaeda suspect Willie Virgile Brigitte.

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Brigitte lived in Sydney for almost six months and married a local woman before his arrest and deportation two weeks ago.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has said Brigitte, now detained in Paris, was the most serious al-Qaeda link arrested in Australia.

Ruddock quiet on Brigitte terror plot

NineMSN Australia -Mon 3 Nov 2003

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock was asked by Channel 9, about wider terror links within Australia. Listen to Audio

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock is refusing to confirm reports terror suspect Willie Virgile Brigitte planned to lead or coordinate terrorist attacks in Australia.

The Australian newspaper reported investigators believed Brigitte, who spent five months in Australia before being deported to France last month, may have been involved in planning an attack in Australia by the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

Mr Ruddock refused to confirm the report.

"I can't confirm reports of that sort," Mr Ruddock told the Nine Network.

"We are undertaking very serious inquires in relation to this matter."

But Mr Ruddock said raids on Sydney properties in Sydney after Mr Brigitte was detained had revealed Mr Brigitte had links to other persons which were of concern to authorities.

"All I can say in relation to that, is that those inquires certainly revealed some linkages that are of concern to us," Mr Ruddock said.

Who is Willie Virgile Brigitte?

Sydney Morning Herald -October 29, 2003

By Amalie Finlayson

Who is Willie Virgile Brigitte?
Willie Virgile Brigitte is a 35-year-old French national who, according to French radio station Europe 1, was born on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, but later in life converted to Islam and relocated to Paris. The station said that Brigitte preferred to be called Abderrahman.

Why might Western intelligence services be interested in Brigitte?
Radio station Europe said that Brigitte had, after September 11, 2001, been asked to go to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban. There he allegedly became involved with Al Qaeda-linked militants who put him in Punjab valley training camps.

What other training was Brigitte allegedly involved in?
A French official - speaking to Agence France Presse on the condition of anonymity - said on October 27 that Brigitte used Fontainbleu Forest outside Paris to help train fighters for Afghanistan.

Why were the Australian authorities suspicious of Willie Virgile Brigitte?
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said France warned Australian authorities on September 22 that Brigitte had trained with terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan and was now living in Australia. On October 7, it increased its warning, he said, with French authorities allegedly fearful that Brigitte was in Australia in connection with terrorist-related activity.

According to the Europe 1 radio station, Brigitte had been ordered to go to Australia to shelter another man who was an expert in explosives.

Are there any specific allegations against him?
The French judiciary claims that Brigitte may have played a role in the assassination of Afghanistan's former Northern Alliance commander, Ahmed Shah Massoud, days before September 11, 2001. Massoud was killed by a bomb hidden in a French-supplied television camera that was being used by two suicide bombers during a bogus press conference in his Kabul office. A French judicial source told Reuters that Mr Brigitte had been accused of supplying the two Belgian passports used by the assassins, an Algerian and a Tunisian.

How was Brigitte able to stay in Australia?
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said Brigitte entered Australia posing as a tourist in May this year. He said that while the Frenchman had spent his entire time in Australia in Sydney, "the precise reason for his presence remains unclear at this stage".

The minister's spokesman said the reason Brigitte had been allowed to remain in Australia for such a long period was because at the time he entered the country, the French had not provided any information on him that raised any concerns.

When was Brigitte arrested?
He was arrested on October 9 for breaching his tourist visa, 18 days after French police first warned Australian authorities of his presence in the country. He was taken to Villawood detention centre where he was questioned. He was taken back to France on October 17 for further questioning over terrorist-related offences in that country. He is currently being detained outside Paris by anti-terrorist authorities, according to Australian and French officials.

Has he been charged?
Brigitte is under investigation for "belonging to a criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking" by France's top anti-terrorist judge after being questioned for four days by officers from the counter-espionage agency, the DST, French officials told AFP.

News.com.au -October 28, 2003

It is understood he and his wife - an Australian citizen, though believed not to be Australian-born - were placed under surveillance shortly before his arrest.

"We have no reason to believe she was in any way suspected of any terrorist activities," sources said yesterday.

Authorities had to confirm that his marriage did not prevent his deportation.

Tracing the movements of Brigitte since his arrival on May 16, authorities found he lived an anonymous life in Sydney's southwest, working as a restaurant general hand.

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