Romania neutralizes Iraqi terrorist network

Iraqi diplomats and Al-Qaeda operations baffled by Romanian intelligence service

April and May 2003. Most people did not know what reaction to take, when, almoust on a daily basis, Iraqi diplomats started to be expelled from Romania. Many people, as well as myself, started to wonder if we're not simply expelling them for no reason at all, except simply because the US government has "ordered" us to, which would mean we are nothing more than their slaves/executors.
However, in the 15th of May 2003, the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) made a press statement which has finally opened our blury and confused "eyes".
As it turns out, the Iraqi diplomats from Iraq's Embassy in Romania had been planning to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Romania, thus making Romania just another "boom" area, same as third world countries all over, in which bomb blasts and terrorist acts are a daily fact. Romania never experienced any terrorist blasts or large scale acts, except the minor incidents between other countries' factions present in Romania (Kurds fighting with Turks, Arabs threatening Israelis, Chinese immigrants fighting among themselves, etc).
Iraqi terrorists and diplomats linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network were planning to bomb Israeli targets in Romania, including their Embassy. These plans have been now discovered by US troops in Iraq, when they captured a large cache of documents in a building in Baghdad. Those documents reveal an amazing fact which is only meant to impress me more: they show that the action of the Romanian Intelligence Services was so effective, that the very chief/head of that terrorist network didn't even realized what was going on, and that his network had been completely eliminated even before they could find out and therefore spread around and disappear.
In total, Romania expelled around 10 Iraqi diplomats plus a few hundreds of other Iraqi and Arab-countries citizens. The terrorists' plan was that an Iraqi diplomat was to purchase abroad, and then bring into the country, foreign AG-7 anti-lightarmour missile launcher, which was intended to be used against Israeli and US interests in Romania, especially the Embassy of Israel in Bucharest.
The Israeli ambassador in Romania, his Excellency Sandu Mazor, stated, in Romanian, that "we were expecting this".
This incident is not the first when SRI baffled foreign terrorist operations inside the country. One year ago, SRI and US Secret Service neutralized an Al-Qaeda cell that wanted to send weapons to the Gulf region, through Romania.
Thank-God for the competence, professionalism and dedication of the Romanian Intelligence Community.
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SPP - Romanian Protection and Guard Service (equivalent of the US Secret Service)


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©2003 Sorin A Crasmarelu

15th of May 2003

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