Prosecutors Say Fourth Accomplice Worked With Suspect in Terror Trial

Prosecutors disclosed Monday that they believe a fourth accomplice--a known Islamic radical--was working with Ahmed Ressam in a terrorist plot to bomb United States targets during millennium celebrations 15 months ago.

During the sixth day of Ressam’s terrorism trial in federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven Gonzalez identified Mustafi Labsi, along with the previously indicted Mokhtar Haouari, as “individuals who we will show are co-conspirators of his, people of interest in this case.”

Haouari was indicted in New York last year, along with Abdelghani Meskini, as an accomplice who helped plan and carry out Ressam’s aborted plot to bomb undisclosed targets in the United States.

A fifth man, Abdelmajid Dahoumane, was also indicted as an accomplice who helped Ressam assemble more than 100 pounds of explosive compounds for use in the alleged terrorist plot.

That plot was thwarted, authorities say, when Ressam, 33, was arrested as he drove his rental car off a ferry at Port Angeles, Wash., from British Columbia on Dec. 14, 1999. Authorities found the explosive compounds and four homemade timing devices hidden in the spare tire well in the trunk.

Meskini entered into a plea agreement and has agreed to testify against Ressam, and Dahoumane has never been caught. And although Labsi has been identified as a former roommate of Ressam’s in Montreal, Monday’s disclosure marked the first time federal authorities have said they believe anyone besides the four men already indicted might have played a role in the alleged bomb plot.

Gonzalez told U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour about Labsi’s suspected role in the case when the jury was not in the courtroom.

Gonzalez also told the court that Labsi and Ressam were arrested together on theft charges on the same day in 1994, shortly after Ressam came to Montreal seeking asylum from political turmoil in Algeria.

The prosecutor told the judge that Ressam and Labsi are believed to have spent at least several months together in terrorist training camps in Afghanistan that are sponsored by Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.

Prosecutors said they could not discuss what they believe was Labsi’s potential role in the bomb plot, including whether he has been indicted under seal. Labsi has links to the same group of militant Algerian extremists as Ressam, Haouari and others implicated in the case.

Labsi was arrested in London last month with nine other men and accused of preparing to engage in acts of terrorism.

Ressam’s defense attorneys also had no comment on the prosecutors’ allegations about Labsi. They do not deny that Ressam was driving a car laden with explosives, but say he was an unwitting accomplice who either didn’t know the items were in his car or didn’t know how they were to be used.

Ressam has pleaded not guilty and faces more than 100 years in prison if convicted on all counts.