'Terror leader escaped notice for over two years'

BEIRUT: The mastermind of the terror cell uncovered by the Internal Security Forces (ISF), Mohammed Rashid Ammar, was known as a glass merchant who hid the true nature of his activities for more than two years in the village of Anout in the predominantly Sunni Iqlim al-Kharroub area The ISF said it recovered weapons and explosives after raiding a house, a shop and a warehouse belonging to Ammar, including nine assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and canisters of liquid hydrogen used in manufacturing explosives.
A well informed source told The Daily Star Tuesday that trucks had been seen unloading shipments "every other day" at Ammar's property, what people assumed to be glass shipments. The ISF is testing the confiscated explosives to check if the type and batch match those used in other terrorist attacks and assassinations that have taken place over the last three years in Lebanon, including the June assassination of Future Movement MP Walid Eido.
Security sources have not released the exact quantity of explosives recovered.
An unidentified Libyan man, netted in the raids over the weekend, is believed to be the technical expert who calibrated Katyusha rockets fired at northern Israel three months ago, the source added.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
Two Katyushas fell near the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on June 17 this year, the first such breach of the cessation of hostilities since the summer 2006 war ended. No casualties were reported as one of the rockets hit a factory and the other struck a car.
The source said investigations are proceeding with the seven suspects detained in the raids, including four men arrested in Yareen, Ammar and the Libyan man. Security sources had released two names, Saeed M., from Mina in Tripoli, and Mohammad H. H., from the village of Katr Maya in Iqlim al-Kharroub.
Judicial sources said army intelligence would continue interrogating the seven suspects for the next week to 10 days, especially since Investigating Magistrate Ghassan Oweidat will be traveling for the next week.
Local media reported that the cell had been active in carrying out attacks and planning for attacks in parts of South Lebanon patrolled by UNIFIL.
Following the conclusion of operations in Nahr al-Bared, authorities have clamped down hard on suspected terror cells throughout Lebanon, mostly using information gleaned from detained militants. The hunt continues for terror suspects and weapons caches.