Swiss seek answers to mix-up over terror suspect

The terror suspect was held in this Zurich airport detention centre after his arrest Keystone

Investigations have been launched in Switzerland to find out why the authorities almost allowed a top terrorist suspect to slip through their fingers.

The Swiss were last week on the verge of deporting Mohamed Achraf, who is wanted by Spain in connection with a foiled bomb attack on the National Court in Madrid.

Achraf, who is said to be the leader of the Islamic cell behind the attack, was arrested in Switzerland on August 28 for immigration offences. He was placed in a detention centre for illegal immigrants at Zurich airport.

The 31-year-old, who is believed to be Algerian, was awaiting deportation on October 19 when Swiss officials were tipped off by the Spanish authorities.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has admitted that the first it learnt of Achraf’s presence in Switzerland was when it was reported by Spanish media.

Switzerland’s secret service said on Wednesday that it had been aware of links between Achraf and Islamic extremists.

But Federal Police Office spokesman Guido Balmer refused to comment on a report in the weekly magazine, “Facts”, which claimed the Swiss authorities questioned Achraf last month.

Two separate inquiries have now been opened to find out why it took the Swiss authorities so long to realise they were holding a terrorist suspect.

Communications breakdown

A key parliamentary commission announced on Wednesday that it was investigating whether there had been a breakdown in communication between the justice and intelligence services, and between the Swiss and Spanish authorities.

“We have to react,” said senator Helen Leumann-Würsch, president of the commission.

According to Leumann-Würsch, Defence Minister Samuel Schmid and Justice Minister Christoph Blocher have been asked “to put the facts on the table”.

The commission wants to establish what, if any, contact there was between federal prosecutors and the detention centre at Zurich airport.

When the affair blew up last week, Victor Gähwiler, head of canton Zurich’s prison service, described the lack of information from the Prosecutor’s Office as “surprising”.

Uncensored

Officials said Achraf had been able to make telephone calls and send uncensored mail from the detention centre because prison authorities were unaware he was a a suspected terrorist.

Spanish police are believed to have intercepted calls made by Achraf and found mailed instructions from him.

Achraf lodged an asylum application in Switzerland in April 2003, which was rejected six months later. He then disappeared until his arrest on August 28.

Fingerprints taken at the time of his asylum application were used to confirm his identity last week.

The justice and police ministry announced earlier this week that it had launched an internal investigation to find out what went wrong.

Cross-border crime

While both investigations are likely to focus on an apparent communications breakdown, it has also been suggested that Switzerland is at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with cross-border crime.

The Swiss, who are not members of the European Union, cannot tap into the EU’s Schengen Information System (SIS), which contains more than 11 million data entries on people and crime.

Switzerland also does not have access to Eurodac, the European fingerprint database that enables the authorities to determine whether an asylum seeker has made a previous application in another country.

This would change if Switzerland ratifies the Schengen/Dublin accord governing closer cooperation on security and asylum, which forms part of the second set of bilateral treaties with the EU signed in Luxembourg on Tuesday.

Rise in crime

The rightwing Swiss People’s Party and the isolationist Campaign for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland want to block accession to Schengen/Dublin, fearing a rise in crime from open borders – an argument challenged by Switzerland’s police authorities.

But Laurent Moreillon, a professor at the Institute of Criminology and Penal Law at Lausanne University, believes access to the SIS could have made a difference in the Achraf case.

“I think that with the Schengen system things would have worked a lot better,” he told swissinfo.

“This person would have been signalled to all the various police authorities and the chances are he would have been tracked down to Zurich sooner.”

The Swiss authorities have received a formal extradition request for Achraf, who is alleged to have masterminded a plot to detonate a lorry laden with 500kg of explosives outside the country’s National Court. The court is a hub for Spain’s investigations into Islamic terrorism.

Achraf, who is being held in solitary confinement, has appealed against extradition. The Swiss justice ministry has said the legal wrangling could drag on for several months.

Achraf is also under investigation by the Swiss authorities on suspicion of plotting “terrorist activities” in Spain and Switzerland.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Timeline:
April 6, 2003: Achraf lodges asylum claim with Swiss authorities.
October 22, 2003: Federal Refugee Office rejects his application; Achraf goes underground.
August 28, 2004: Achraf is arrested by Swiss police and transferred to a detention centre at Zurich Airport.
October 19, 2004: Spanish police name Achraf as suspect in alleged plot to bomb National Court in Madrid.
October 21, 2004: Swiss Federal Prosecutor opens investigation into Achraf’s alleged links to “terrorist activities”.
October 22, 2004: Achraf appeals against extradition to Spain.

In brief

Spanish police said on Thursday that they had arrested 13 North Africans in connection with the alleged plot to bomb the National Court. Seventeen other suspects were rounded up last week.

Authorities in Spain say the plot was organised by a cell of Islamic extremists known as the “Martyrs for Morocco”, allegedly set up by Mohamed Achraf.

The National Court in Madrid is the hub of investigations into the March 11 train bombings by suspected Islamic militants that killed 191 people.