FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2003
'Al-Qaeda members tried to sneak into Japan'
AP
TOKYO: Six members of the al-Qaeda terror network hiding out in Pakistan tried to sneak into Japan with fake passports last year, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Their plan fell through when a Japanese Muslim refused a bribe to act as a guarantor for the six terrorists, the Yomiuri newspaper said.
The newspaper quoted unidentified government officials as saying the terrorists were fleeing a crackdown by authorities against Osama Bin Laden's network in Pakistan and believed it would be easier to slip into Japan than Europe or the US.
Officials from the National Police Agency and the Public Safety Investigation Agency refused to comment on the story.
An al-Qaeda official claiming to be a go-between for six members of the group hiding in Pakistan approached a Japanese Muslim here last spring, the Yomiuri said.
The go-between reportedly said that fake Indian and Bangladeshi passports had been prepared for the six and offered to pay the Japanese national about 1 million yen ($8,500) per person to become their guarantor.
Though Japanese authorities were tipped off about the plan, they did not know the names of the six or their positions in al-Qaeda, the Yomiuri said.
Earlier this week, domestic media said that Japanese and US security officials suspected a high-ranking al-Qaeda member came to Japan in 2000 to raise funds and stayed until just before the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
Another report said that an al-Qaeda terrorist bought radio equipment in Japan in 1995.
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