Japan Today reported Monday that the Japanese government has information about the possibility that some 12 foreign Islamic extremists came to Japan in early September, shortly before the terrorist attacks on the United States.
These Islamic extremists are believed to be Arabs and followers of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, whom the US says is "the prime suspect" in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon just outside Washington, sources told the paper’s online edition.
According to Japanese public security authorities, Japan received information that the suspected Islamic extremists entered Japan mainly by way of Pakistan sometime between early September and Sept 10.
After the government got the information from a foreign intelligence agency, the National Police Agency and others directed police forces across the country to look into the matter and Japanese police beefed up security around US military bases and other US facilities.
Japanese immigration authorities are also looking into the arrivals and departures of the 12 suspected Islamic extremists at Narita, Kansai and other airports that handle international flights, the sources said.
The public security authorities are checking with key Japanese railway stations, hotels and airports to see if such foreign nationals might have come to Japan with fake passports, the sources added.
On September 7, the US embassy in Tokyo warned that US military installations in Japan and South Korea might become targets of terrorism, the paper said – Albawaba.com
