Plot to Kill the Pope Thwarted

[Melensdad]

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/pope-benedict-plot-thwarted/2010/05/15/id/359144
Plot to Kill Pope Thwarted
Saturday, 15 May 2010 03:45 PM

Two Moroccan students deported from Italy last month were suspected of plotting to assassinate Pope Benedict, an Interior Ministry source says.

Mohamed Hlal, 26, and Ahmed Errahmouni, 22, students at the University for Foreigners in the central Italian city of Perugia, had been under surveillance by anti-terrorist police for months before they were expelled on April 29.

"During their inquiry, investigators found evidence suggesting the two (suspects) were plotting an attack on the pope," said the source.

An interior ministry statement issued at the time of their deportation said they were being expelled under prevention of terrorism laws.

Six other foreign students, suspected of contacts with militant Islamic groups, are still under investigation.

News magazine Panorama, owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's family, reported on Friday that local anti-terrorist police had tapped Hlal's phone and had raised the alarm when he said he wanted to acquire explosives.

The magazine said police discovered a map of Turin at Errahmouni's house annotated with numbers and circles, ahead of a visit to the northern Italian city by Pope Benedict on May 2 to venerate the Shroud of Turin, which many Catholics believe was Jesus Christ's burial cloth.

Panorama described Errahmouni as a computer expert who remained in contact with militant groups over the Internet. It said Perugia had become a centre for travelling imams to preach radical Islam.

Turkish citizen Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot and seriously wounded Paul John Paul in 1981, was also enrolled as a language student at Perugia university.

Intelligence reports and arrests show militant Islamic groups linked to al Qaeda, especially in North Africa, are active in Italy, mostly recruiting and financing for attacks planned elsewhere in Europe.

However, alarm was raised in October by a failed attack on an army barracks near Milan by a 35-year-old Libyan man. Mohammed Game, whose hand was blown off when he hurled a bomb, was believed to have had accomplices, police said.

 

[Melensdad]

Another view

Plot By Radical Muslims To Kill Pope Prevented
http://www.eurasiareview.com/2010/05/plot-by-radical-muslims-to-kill-pope.html

(CNA/EWTN News) -- Two Moroccan students who attended a university in the central Italian city of Perugia were expelled from the country last month after it was discovered that they were conspiring to kill Pope Benedict. One of them allegedly said he wished to “earn a place in Paradise.”

According to Italian weekly newspaper Panorama, conversations intercepted by Italian authorities led to the arrest and deportation of the two suspects.

The order for expulsion reportedly included the transcript of a conversation in which one of the students, Mohammed Hlal, said that he wished “death to the head of the Vatican City State” and was "ready to assassinate him to earn a place in Paradise."

The 26-year-old Hlal was speaking over the phone with 22-year-old Ahmed Errahmouni when he made the statements which earned them the attention of the local police and a trip back to Morocco.

They were deemed a “threat to national security” in the document signed by the Italian Minister of the Interior and expelled on April 29, Panorama reports.

According to an investigation begun last October by the Italian anti-mafia police, the two were known to have a radical vision of Islam and had expressed a desire to obtain explosive materials. It was reported that no material used to construct explosives was found in their residence hall rooms.

Hlal studied international communications, while Errahmouni was a student of math and physics at the University of Perugia.​

 

[pirate_girl]

Well thank God this WAS thwarted.
As much as I am not a fan of the current Holy Father, I'd hate to see the assassination attempt of another Pope.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Sadly, as long as there's a pope, I fear there will always be attempts made to take his life.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

i think you all are over looking the reason for this attempt. these guys are not some victim of a crazed priest who got moved around or a wacko. These guys are devout muslims waging a holy war against christians, and the pope is the moste notible person they could pick. It's not that he is catholic that made him a target but that he worships God we all could be targets of these radicals just because of what we believe in and also because we live in a country that garuntees freedom of worshop and does not force the koran down everybodys throat.

 

[Doc]

I agree Don.

I also wonder what if this had happened in the US, what if anything would be done. I suspect nothing. They would watch them but unless they did something I doubt they would take action. From what I've seen terrorists are innocent until proven guilty, so they would get all the benefits of the doubt.

 

[JEV]

Since these radicals are looking to find their place in paradise, perhaps we can help them out a little...

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

I agree Don.

I also wonder what if this had happened in the US, what if anything would be done. I suspect nothing. They would watch them but unless they did something I doubt they would take action. From what I've seen terrorists are innocent until proven guilty, so they would get all the benefits of the doubt.

As A soldier i would wear uniform to up hold the bill of rights. I do not want to take that away from our citizens I believe an alian or illeagal immagrant should not share alll the same rights. If you are here legaly live by rules ,don't rub noses with the bad guys or its back to where you came from if you came,remember you remember are guests until you have citizen ship. If you here illegaly go home,I dont advicate kgb guys running around in black hellicopters throwing everybody behind bars when the bad guys are planning to do bad things there are always sighns. As citizens its not that hard to pull our heads out of our 3rd point of contact and be vigialant. While we are at it send the aclu back to where they came from how manny middle aged white guys or little old ladys have tryed to hijack an air plane or drive around in car bombs.Im sorry about those good people that are from the middle east rat out the bad apples and lets get rid of them i have roots in the south but it dosn't mean i belong to the clan and i don't advocate that behavior,and if i saw a lynch mob i would it would be my civil duty to do some thing about it.

 

[Danang Sailor]

Don,

I'm not trying to hijack this thread, but your post triggered some thoughts. Remember this?

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Sans-serif,sans-serif]"I, [state your name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

As a retiree who took that oath a number of times, I've spent a lot of time lately considering the phrase, " ... support and defend the Constitution ... against all enemies, foreign and domestic ... ". A case can be made, notwithstanding the follow-on clause about the POTUS, that it might be our servicemen's sworn duty to depose not only the POTUS, but a number of members of Congress as well. I realize this smacks of sedition, but no matter how I approach this I always arrive at the same place: our current leaders are violating the Constitution daily and have by their actions declared themselves its enemy.

Let's hope the next election cycle makes enough changes to turn this around. We have to do something to save this country and the alternative to the electoral process makes me sad.

[/FONT]