Romanian intelligence service gives details on Islamic "terrorist" suspect
BBC Monitoring (European) - June 28, 2006

Text of report in English by Romanian news agency Rompres

Bucharest, 27 June: The young man from the western town of Lugoj who was arrested in the nearby city of Timisoara late on Monday [26 June] on suspicion that he planned a bomb attack in a crowded area of Timisoara has been monitored by the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) since 17 December 2004.

The intelligence service had suspicions of Lesch's links to fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organizations and they also had suspicions of his plans to initiate or commit terrorist attacks in Romania, the SRI said in a release to Rompres on Tuesday.

Since 2002, Lesch had taken part in religious training camps held in Romania, an occasion for him to get in touch with members of the extremist-terrorist organization The Muslim Brothers. It was when being with them that he openly voiced his embracement of the Islamic Jihad, accusing the Romanian pro-Western policy, the SRI said.

"After having converted to Islam and having chosen the name of Aynan Hassan Abger (a former soldier in the 7th Brigade of the Bosnian Islamic Army), Florin Lesch was indoctrinated with fundamentalist teachings and said he was ready to sacrifice himself in a terrorist attack", the release stressed.

Furthermore, he promoted via the Internet violent anti-Israeli and anti-Western attitudes, urging people to get involved in the Jihad and he constantly kept in touch with supporters of the Islamic fundamentalist ideology based either in Romania or abroad, particularly with Muslims from regions known as a breeding ground of terrorism.

Based on the intelligence collected, the SRI on 17 August 2005 notified the Timis County Territorial Section for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism.

Lesch was arrested late on Monday at Buzias (western Romania) by SRI officers and DIICOT prosecutors while his was driving his car where he was carrying the explosives he planned to blast in a crowded public place in Timisoara. He told the investigators he wanted to avenge his Islamic brothers from Chechnya and Bosnia.

The Timisoara-based prosecutors with the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) extended the inquiry into another two persons, who were remanded in custody Monday night. One of them was released after the questioning, the other is still being questioned.

The SRI and DIICOT say Florin Lesch had bought the car in which he put the explosives under the back seat. Head of Timisoara DIICOT office Mircea Andres said Lesch was to use 80 kilograms of dynamite to blast the explosives put in his car.

The DIICOT prosecutors with the Timisoara Prosecutor's Office are investigating several suspect cases of terrorism as well as information that suspicious money transfers are being conducted in western Romania, related to certain corporations or persons suspected of terrorism.

Source: Rompres news agency, Bucharest, in English 1437 27 Jun 06

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