SARAJEVO, May 21, 2009 -- Bosnian security forces have conducted a series of arrests of former El-Mujahid [foreign] fighters on the basis of illegal residency and potential security threats in an attempt to improve the country’s image in the face of Western pressure to help fight terrorism.

However, the large-scale operation is facing some setbacks as the whereabouts of many of those slated for arrest remain unknown.

Since 4 May, Bosnian police and security services have arrested four suspects in several cities after their citizenships were revoked on charges that they had been obtained under dubious circumstances during the 1992-1995 war.

The arrested include Syrian native Aiman Awad, also known as Abu Ejmen, Tunisian Ammar al Hanchi, Algerian-born Aissa Benkhira, and Kuwait native Abdulla Ba-Awra, also known as Hudeifa (though the latter’s true identity is still being determined). They are being held at the Sarajevo immigration center, pending a deportation ruling.

The four were soldiers and commanders of the El-Mujahid unit [an autonomous unit of foreign troops formally under Bosnian Army command] during the war. Bosnian authorities were also finalizing the arrest of another native Algerian known only by the initials CZ, but the suspect allegedly fled to Hungary before security forces were able to take him into custody.

A source inside the Federal Police Administration (FUP) told ISN Security Watch on condition of anonymity that 47 men were slated for arrest in the coming days – all of them former El-Mujahid.

In early 2006, the Bosnian government began reviewing the cases of some 1,500 naturalized citizens who obtained citizenship during the war, and concluded that 661 were obtained illegally.

ISN Security Watch’s source said that the police were still attempting to locate those on the list (from Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Hungary, and Algeria) who are believed to pose potential national security threats.

“But honestly, at this time we still do not have full information on the whereabouts of those on the list. What worries us more is that no one knows how many of them are still in the country and how many have left for third countries. They often change addresses and names, and we have cases in which one person may have as many as 70 different names and nicknames,” the source said.

When the war ended in Bosnia in 1995, the United States urged Bosnian authorities to close all military camps under Arab supervision and to disband all mujahideen units.

All foreign fighters were to leave Bosnia within 30 days of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement; however, most managed to gain citizenship during that time by presenting fake documents or marrying Bosnian women. The Bosnian Foreign Ministry believes that around 1,000 mujahideen remained in the cities of Sarajevo, Tuzla, and Zenica, and a handful of villages.

Though publicly Bosnian security and intelligence agencies say the arrests are being conducted for illegal residency, sources have told ISN Security Watch that some of the suspects are believed to have links to militant groups.

Abdulla Ba-Awra (Hudeifa, also known as Ali Said Baawra) ran a used car dealership in northern Bosnia before his arrest. Police found in his possession forged passports for Yemen, Iraq, and Kuwait. In 1997, along with 18 other former El-Mujahid members, Hudeifa was arrested by Federal police for involvement in several terrorist and criminal acts against Bosnian Croats. He spent one year in prison.

In the case of the Tunisian Ammar al Hanchi, the Federal police source said that Bosnian and western intelligence had linked him to the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and that he had been in contact with one of the 14 people suspected of being members of the Al Qaeda network arrested in Belgium in December 2008.

In yet another case, the current president of the Bosnian-Algerian Friendship organization, Aissa Benkhira, who arrived to Bosnia in 1993 through Saudi Arabia, was wanted by Algerian authorities for terrorism and sentenced to death. Benkhira was charged with involvement in a 1995 attack on an Algerian industrial zone that killed six people. The GIA was suspected of being behind the attack.

Syrian-born Aiman Awad (Abu Ejmen) has lived in the Balkans since 1985 and served as a fighter and translator in the El Mujahid unit. He is the president of the Ensarije Association of Naturalized Citizens of Bosnia, which provides legal help to those facing deportation. His lawyer says he faces prison in Syria if deported.

According to ISN Security Watch’s police source, Awad is suspected of involvement in bringing fighters into Bosnia. He is also said to have been a close associate of Hassan al-Sharif Mahmud Saad, the mastermind of the 1995 Rijeka, Croatia bombing. On 20 October 1995, a massive explosion occurred when a suicide bomber detonated some 60 kilograms of explosives hidden in a car outside a police station. In interviews with Croatian media, Awad admitted that al-Sharif was a close friend, but denied any involvement in the bombing.

The blast came after Croatian security forces arrested Abu Talal al-Qasimy, one of the most important al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya leaders hiding out in Europe, as he attempted to enter Bosnia. Within days, the Croats deported al-Qasimy through U.S. custody into the hands of Egyptian authorities, who executed him, according to some unconfirmed reports.

The police source said Federal and Croatian intelligence registered Awad’s contacts with the Palestinian Hussam Moussa al-Abed, who was charged with recruiting Bosnian fighters for Iraq and Afghanistan. Intelligence noted that al-Abed visited Bosnia on several occasions after the war, distributing funds to former El-Mujahid members for the Wahhabi community. Al-Abed also served in the El-Mujahid.

Meanwhile, Federal police have registered an increase in meetings of radical Muslims. ISN Security Watch’s source said that those meetings were being held in mountainous areas of central Bosnia.

A video from one of those meetings, believed to have taken place in the town of Vlasic, was obtained by ISN Security Watch. The footage shows some 30 Wahhabis listening to sermons and taking target practice.

One of the key speakers was Nusret Imamovic, a Wahhabi community leader with a violent criminal record. Imamovic is a naturalized Austrian citizen living in both Austria and Bosnia and the founder of a small Wahhabi community here.

The source said that police had noted several foreigners attending the meeting, including three Saudi citizens and one Tunisian. He also said he believed that the meetings were being used to recruit new fighters for conflicts abroad.

The most recent arrests came only a week after the U.S. State Department released its annual report on terrorism, and some two weeks ahead of U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden’s visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina [on 18 May]. In its report, the State Department lauds Bosnia’s cooperation in anti-terrorism efforts, but cautions that militants here remain strong and organized and pose a real threat.

“Bosnia remains a weak, decentralized state with poor interagency communication and competing security structures. Efforts by Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska entity officials to undermine state-level institutions slowed efforts to improve operational capabilities to combat terrorism and terrorist financing. These factors, combined with political interference in law enforcement, resulted in Bosnia being vulnerable to exploitation as a potential staging ground for terrorist operations in Europe,” the report said.

Bosnia is also set to receive a negative assessment of its efforts to make the Schengen “white list” [of countries entitled to visa-free travel] for failing to implement necessary reforms and improve border controls to aid in the fight against organized crime and terrorism.