French connections- Probe into al-Qaida plots began on Sept. 1

PARIS -- On Sept. 10, the day before terror struck New York and Washington, French prosecutors began looking into an alleged plot to attack U.S. interests in Europe, including the stately embassy building in Paris. The suspected power behind the scheme: Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

A month later, nine people are in jail, awaiting possible trial. France's top anti-terrorist judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, is conducting the probe, which has spread across Europe and led to arrests in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain.

So far, there are no direct links to the Sept. 11 attacks, according to officials familiar with the investigation. But the French case appears to provide a window on the workings of al-Qaida, from recruitment meetings in Afghanistan to operatives sitting at computer terminals in suburban Paris apartments, transmitting coded messages.

Valuable information

Officials are believed to be looking at whether Zacarias Moussaoui, a French-Moroccan arrested in August in the United States, is connected to the French network. Moussaoui, who is from southern France, raised suspicions at a Minnesota flight school by telling instructors he wanted to learn about flying, but not landing, a plane. He is being held as a material witness in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Police say bin Laden's deputies traveled to Spain earlier this year and apparently issued orders to an Algerian cell, now in custody, to attack U.S. interests in Europe. Spanish police are getting increasing indications that suspects involved in that plot may have been in contact with the suspected hijackers from Sept. 11.

In the French case, a majority of the nine suspects now jailed are French-Algerians.

Seven people were arrested in a sting operation on Sept. 21 in the Essonne region south of Paris. An eighth, Kamel Daoudi -- apparently tipped off when he saw a TV news crew outside -- managed to escape to Britain but was caught and sent back to France.

The 'prize' terrorist

The ninth, Djamel Beghal, is potentially the prize. Arrested in late July in Dubai with a false passport, the 35-year-old French-Algerian poured out a wealth of detail during questioning there, according to French judicial officials who saw the account. He described meeting bin Laden operatives at mosques in Britain, traveling to Afghanistan for weapons training at an al-Qaida camp, and meeting at bin Laden's home with his top aide, Abu Zubaydah, where he was told, according to some reports, that "the time for action has come" -- and asked if he was ready.

Beghal also reportedly told investigators that Abu Zubaydah gave him gifts from bin Laden: a toothpick, a string of prayer beads, a flask of incense. His job was to oversee the mission against the Paris embassy sometime early next year, in which another man -- Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian soccer player -- was to detonate explosives attached to his belt.

During questioning in Paris, he withdrew much of his original testimony which he said was extracted by force. He admitted he was trained in Afghanistan, but denied having orders to carry out a terrorist attack.

Communications records

Meanwhile, experts are examining cell phone records, computer disks, and various documents found in the possession of all the suspects, especially Daoudi, a 27-year-old computer student who worked for two years at a cybercafe.

Daoudi has been described as the suspected communications chief of the plot -- using e-mails and images, perhaps coded, to transmit messages. Investigators are also said to have found frames of cell phones and dismantled alarm clocks in his apartment in a low-income suburb. A photo of Daoudi shows a bespectacled young man, who worked in a youth-employment program run by his town in 1998. He told judges in Paris that he trained at a camp in Afghanistan, but denied being involved in any plans for attacks.