JF, it was a white substance. Are you suggesting the Italians are lying?
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Italy thwarts US embassy attack
February 21, 2002
ITALIAN police foiled a planned attack on the US embassy in Rome and arrested four Moroccans armed with a cyanide-based chemical and maps of the city's water network.
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But Rome city officials played down the health risks posed by the substance, saying it was not toxic enough to have caused harm to residents.
The arrests nonetheless appeared to confirm repeated warnings by the US State Department of the possibility of a new attack on US targets at home or abroad from members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation.
The four men, aged between 30 and 40, were detained in a dawn raid yesterday on an apartment in the Tor Bella Monaca area in the south of the Italian capital, where a search also uncovered a hoard of false documents.
Police said the men had been under surveillance for several days and moved in to arrest them once they had sufficient evidence they were in possession of the cyanide-based substance, which they have not publicly identified.
Police seized four kilogrames of the white powdery substance from the apartment.
The Corriere della Sera daily said at least two of the men had false identity papers, and at least one of them was linked with suspected terrorists arrested in northern Italy in recent months.
Three other Moroccans were arrested in the Italian capital last week on suspicion of forging papers, as part of an investigation by Italian authorities into Muslim communities in Italy.
Interior Minister Claudio Scajola stressed Italy's intensified efforts to combat terrorism after September 11 in a press conference late yesterday, hours before news of the latest arrests leaked.
Scajola said Italian police had arrested 20 people suspected of links with Islamic terrorism and frozen 82 suspicious bank accounts worth 345 million euros ($A588.69 million).
Investigations have shown that al-Qaeda and other such networks have been using Italy as a logistical base since long before the attacks, particularly to forge official documents.
Seven Tunisians, many of whom were arrested last spring, are currently on trial for alleged links to bin Laden in two separate cases in Milan, home to Italy's main Islamist community.
Prosecutors allege that some of the suspects had referred to plans for a chemical attack in France in intercepted telephone calls last year.
Italy's Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said the swoop demonstrated that Italy "is in the front line in the war against international terrorism".
"We are taking this battle forward with great determination," he said.
However, police and prosecutors imposed a news blackout on the case.
A furious anti-terrorist magistrate Salvatore Vecchione criticised the leaking of information about the arrests to the media, saying it had done untold damage to the investigation.
Franco Frattini, minister with responsibility for Italy's secret service, said "the extraordinary delicacy of this investigation dictates that we can't say another word about it".
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher hailed the arrests and said officials did not believe there was an immediate threat to the embassy or its employees.
"We commend the government of Italy for the police work that resulted in these arrests," Boucher said, echoing statements made earlier at the embassy.
"The latest incident shows the continuing danger posed by terrorists and the need to remain at a high level of vigilance," he added, noting that the embassy remained open.
The US embassy, which was highlighted on a map held by the men, was evacuated in January last year following intelligence reports that it could be the target of a terrorist attack.
Italian press reports said the British embassy had also been highlighted among other buildings in Rome.
Rome municipal governor Emilio Del Mese said after a meeting with city water company officials that tests had shown the chemical "would have been absolutely incapable" of causing harm to humans.
"The substance, if it had been introduced into the water supply network, would have given it a yellow colour, which would have indicated to consumers that the water was momentarily undrinkable," he said.
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