Bosnian police investigate claims London bombing suspect lived in Brcko

Bosnian police investigate claims London bombing suspect lived in Brcko
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political - July 13, 2005, Wednesday

Excerpt from report by M. Cubro entitled "Suspect has same name as member of Wahhabi community living near Brcko" published by the Bosnian Serb newspaper Nezavisne novine on 12 July

Sarajevo: Mohamed El Guerbouzi, also known as Abou Aissa El Meghribi, the person who has the same name as the prime suspect in the recent bomb attacks in London - was a member of a Wahhabi community living in the village of Gornji Rasljani near Brcko District. This is what the Brcko District police have confirmed to Nezavisne novine.

"We have drawn up a list of people belonging to this community who might pose a threat. The list was forwarded to the B-H State Investigation and Protection Agency [SIPA], which is authorized to take the necessary steps. I cannot claim with certainty that the person who is reportedly suspected of the London attacks lived in this place, because at the moment I have no exact information. However, the fact that this man was included in the list proves it must be true, since we made the list based on operational information," said Brcko District Police Chief Milenko Milicevic.

Nezavisne novine got hold of the list of "people who might pose a threat", who used to live, or are still living, in the village of Gornji Rasljani near Brcko. Among them is Mohamed El Guerbouzi, alias Abou Aissa El Meghribi, born in a place called Larache, Morocco, on 9 February 1957. According to police records, El Guerbouzi is a Moroccan citizen who possessed a Moroccan identification card and passport and was in Bosnia-Hercegovina during the war.

The list was drawn up in 2003 by the Public Register of the Brcko District Government at the request of the District MUP [Interior Ministry]. The latter requested that the Public Register officials check the identity of persons who had spent some time in the village of Rasljani near Brcko. Thirty-six houses in this village had been bought, mostly by naturalized Bosnians. "We have run a check and found out that El Guerbouzi lived in Rasljani in a community of 31. We have also provided information on their identity. We do not know whether or not he possessed B-H citizenship, because he had Moroccan documents," a senior official from the Public Register said.

B-H Interpol yesterday confirmed that the Interpol office in Morocco's capital city of Rabat had issued a warrant for the arrest of Mohamed El Guerbouzi in 2003. The information obtained from the Brcko Police regarding El Guerbouzi's place and date of birth, his parents' names, and citizenship matches that provided by Interpol. "In the arrest warrant El Guerbouzi is not linked to B-H. He is wanted for a number of criminal offences, such as collecting funds for financing terrorists, preparing terrorist attacks and assisting in forging passports," B-H Interpol said. However, B-H Interpol Director Brane Pecanac claims the Brcko District Police have not presented him with any list of people who might pose a threat.

SIPA [State Investigation and Protection Agency] spokesman Admir Katica refused to comment on the list. "None of the international organizations have ever requested us to check information on, or the identity of, people linked to the London terrorist attack," Katica said.

The B-H Ministry of Civil Affairs says El Guerbouzi is not registered as a citizen of Bosnia-Hercegovina. [Passage omitted]