Switzerland and Spain to cooperate on terror case

Federal Prosecutor's Office spokesman Hansjürg Mark Wiedmer speaking at Zurich airport Keystone

Swiss justice officials investigating the alleged terrorist, Mohamed Achraf, have requested judicial assistance from Spain.

The announcement comes after two days of talks in Madrid between the Swiss federal prosecutor, Valentin Roschacher, and the Spanish authorities.

A spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on Thursday that the talks between Roschacher and the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, had focused on Swiss-Spanish cooperation in the case.

Spain suspects Achraf of masterminding a planned attack on the National Court in Madrid, and has called for his extradition.

The 31-year-old suspect was arrested for theft and immigration offences in Switzerland at the end of August and was awaiting deportation. He has resisted attempts to extradite him to Spain.

Hansjürg Mark Wiedmer, spokesman for the Swiss prosecutor’s office, said Achraf’s deportation was discussed during talks on Wednesday. But he added that “it is not the main issue at the moment”.

Wiedmer said it was more important that both sides were able to question the man believed to be the head of a terrorist cell.

Intelligence

The complex structure of Switzerland’s intelligence service has been blamed for the failure to reveal Achraf’s alleged role in the bomb plot and to locate a second suspect.

Achraf was being held in a low-security detention centre in Zurich when his alleged terror link surfaced last month in the Spanish media.

On Wednesday Justice Minister Christoph Blocher dismissed criticism that the Swiss security services had been found wanting.

He said they had handled the case “outstandingly” well. Blocher blamed an “information breakdown” on the Spanish side for the failure to reveal the terrorist connection earlier.

Achraf allegedly recruited members for his terror cell while serving time in Spain for credit-card fraud between 1999 and 2002.

According to leaked Spanish intelligence reports, he was also planning robberies in Switzerland to finance the attack and may have carried out at least one major theft.

Asylum request

Achraf was fingerprinted by Swiss refugee authorities in April 2003, when he made a request for asylum using a Palestinian alias. He was turned down six months later after authorities established he was a North African.

Achraf then went underground but is believed to have travelled out of Switzerland on several occasions, most likely to Spain and Germany.

He reportedly travelled to Spain with a suitcase full of cash in July, using a fake French passport. He is said to have met members of his cell before returning to Switzerland in August.

The Swiss authorities have so far refused to comment on a report by Garzón that a second terror suspect was living in Switzerland and had escaped arrest.

Achraf is alleged to have asked the man, known as Salim, to build the bomb that was destined for the National Court.

Speaking in Madrid on Thursday, Swiss Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, who has been meeting his Spanish counterpart, dismissed talk of a diplomatic breakdown between the two countries.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Spanish police have arrested more than 30 suspected terrorists.
They are believed to have been involved in planning attacks on the National Court, the Madrid football stadium, the headquarters of the conservative party and the Picasso Tower.