United Arab Emirates authorities have arrested Abdel Rahim al-Nashiri, 36, suspected of being al-Qaeda's top operations manager in the Gulf, at the end of October as he prepared to blow up significant economic installations, according to Emirates News Agency.
"UAE security authorities in late October arrested Abdel Rahim al-Nashiri, nicknamed 'prince of the sea' and al-Qaeda's chief for naval operations and its operations chief in the Gulf, who was preparing to blow up several vital economic installations inside the country," the official agency said.
It was the first official confirmation that Nashiri, a Saudi national, was arrested in the UAE.
Quoting an official source, the news agency said Nashiri had been handed over to the US, "as part of the ongoing cooperation between the two sides in the fight against international terrorism."
His arrest and hand-over were kept secret "for security reasons" and in order not to jeopardize the investigation, the source added.
Furthermore, the UAE official described Nashiri as "one of the most dangerous" on a US list of 20 operatives of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.
It said he is suspected of involvement in the bombing of American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, in the bombing of the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000, and in an explosion that crippled a French supertanker off the Yemeni coast last October.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Monday that Nashiri was taking pilot training when he was arrested in Umm al-Qaiwain. It said the arrest took place last month.
It added that Nashiri was handed over to the CIA and transferred to one of its centers in Jordan for interrogation. (Albawaba.com)
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