Army Arrests Malaysians Plotting to Carry out Terror Attacks in Lebanon
Army Intelligence succeeded in arresting suspects on charges of belonging to the al-Qaida terrorist organization, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday.
Security sources told the daily that the army arrested Malaysian nationals Rafik Mohammed Aaref and Mohammed Razin Shaaban on charges of being members of the organization.
They were arrested in a hotel in Beirut's Hamra neighborhood and referred to the Military Tribunal.
Investigations revealed that they were recruited to al-Qaida by a Malaysian called Mustapha Mansour in Malaysia in 2007.
They then moved to Yemen where they met other members of the terror organization.
The security sources said that Aaref and Shabaan were arrested in 2007 and sentenced to jail where they met Jamal al-Badawi who is accused of the 2000 bombing of United States Navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.
Al-Joumhouria added that about two months ago, the suspects tried to enter Syria through Turkey on a jihadist mission and in order to carry out suicide attacks.
Their planned attacks were coordinated with a man identified as “Abou Hassan,” who is responsible for the entry of all jihadists to Syria, said the daily.
Aaref and Shaaban failed to enter Syria however and so they decided to head to Lebanon to carry out terrorist attacks.
Their activity was monitored however by the army intelligence.
They were soon arrested and investigations revealed that they were planning on contacting an individual in Lebanon in order to coordinate attacks.
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