MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2003
Iran says it deported 500 al-Qaeda suspects
AP
TEHRAN: Iran declared on Sunday it has arrested and deported more than 500 infiltrators suspected of links to the terrorist al-Qaeda group but couldn't confirm reports Osama Bin Laden's eldest son was among them.
"We have arrested more than 500 people suspected of links to al-Qaida and sent them back to the country they came from or their countries of origin," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said at a press conference. He did not say when or over what period the arrests and deportations took place.
"This is our policy to crack down on any person suspected of links to al-Qaeda," Kharrazi said.
Kharrazi said Iran had no knowledge about reports that Saad Bin Laden was in Iran.
"Allegations about Bin Laden's son are not new. Definitely, we will arrest him if he is located in Iran," he said.
Bin Laden has at least 23 children by several wives. Saad Bin Laden, believed to be the eldest and about 23, and has emerged as an al-Qaeda leader, and is on America's most wanted terrorist list.
Iran said last year it had arrested and deported 150 infiltrators suspected of links to al-Qaeda. The infiltrators had entered Iran across its eastern border, which runs along the western sides of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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