By Mohamed Kamel – Translated by Mohamed Maher – 5 minutes read

Egyptian security arrested Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, the rest of the cell, the broker and the Kazakh seller – within Iranian territory, taking them all back to Egypt – along with a bag of nuclear bombs ready for detonation, in addition to a bag containing thousands of tourist checks issued to the bearer estimated at millions of dollars, as a down payment for the nuclear bombs.

Egyptian security – in 1995, in the city of Tanta – arrested the American citizen “Jose Padilla”, who was nicknamed “Abdullah al-Muhajer” after his marriage to an Egyptian woman. He was specialized in making chemical and dirty bombs (conventional bomb that contains radioactive material) with an impact radius up to two kilometers. These bombs were used in Afghanistan against the remaining Russian forces.

The Egyptian security arrest came after he returned from Afghanistan, and met with Medhat Morsi Al-Sayed Omar, one of the most important leaders of al-Qaeda, known as “Abu Khabab al-Masri,” who specialized in making the dirty and chemical bombs too. Abu Khabab al-Masri died in Afghanistan after a US raid on al-Qaeda strongholds in 2008.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, al-Qaeda has not stopped its efforts to produce and use the dirty bomb, and has actively sought to develop its military capabilities and acquire nuclear bombs.

A high-level source revealed to Al-Gomhoreya Al-Thania that Egyptian security thwarted al-Qaeda’s efforts to possess a nuclear bomb bag from the Soviet Union after its dissolution to launch attacks against the USA.

According to the source, in 1995, the Egyptian security was able to intercept suspicious communications of an Egyptian with a Canadian passport to a Kazakh to buy nuclear bombs. This revealed a terrorist cell led by Ahmed Salama Mabrouk – known as “Abu Faraj al-Masri”, with a Canadian passport – includes four other Egyptians, members of al Qaeda and nuclear physicist from Nigeria.

The cell was able to communicate with the Kazakh to buy the nuclear bomb bag, commissioned by the former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, via “the Egyptian Canadian”. The Egyptian security intercepted these communications, including multiple meetings between members of al-Qaeda cell and the mediator in front of the Iranian embassy in Kyrgyzstan, one of the States that gained  independence from the former USSR in 1991, the security also knew the date of the meeting, which was set to take place near the borders in Iran.

Egyptian security arrested Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, the rest of the cell, the broker and the Kazakh seller – within Iranian territory, taking them all back to Egypt – along with a bag of nuclear bombs ready for detonation, in addition to a bag containing thousands of tourist checks issued to the bearer estimated at millions of dollars, as a down payment for the nuclear bombs.

The Egyptian security was able to arrest the suspects, with bombs and tourist checks, and managed to get them out of Iran to Egypt, safely, without the Iranian authorities. The members of the cell were part of the Egyptian Jihad Organization and wanted for many crimes. The Egyptian security handed over the Kazakh seller to his country; to be tried there, as well as the Nigerian.

Osama bin Laden

“Al-Qaeda” confesses

Al-Qaeda cell then acknowledged its desire to possess nuclear bombs, commissioned by Osama bin Laden personally, to launch nuclear attacks in USA.

It is noteworthy that “Osama bin Laden” founded al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, in the beginning of 1988, and welcomed several leaders of the Egyptian Jihad and the Islamic Group Organizations, in addition to the Arab Mujahedeen who were called “Arab-Afghans” at the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, for launching terrorist attacks on the Western interests worldwide. Bin Laden declared the establishment of the “World Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders” in 1998; to fight the Americans and their allies anywhere in the world.

Jose Padilla, known as Abdullah al-Muhajer, was involved in the making of the dirty bomb with Medhat Morsi al-Sayed Omar, known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, a chemical weapons expert in al-Qaeda who graduated from Alexandria University and specialized in chemistry. Abu Khabab joined the Jihad organization before traveling from Egypt to Afghanistan, while Jose Padilla embraced Islam in 1988, after meeting a number of the followers of Dr. Omar Abdul Rahman in the US.

Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, known as Abu al-Faraj al-Masri, was the Emir of the cell which bin Laden assigned to acquire nuclear bombs. He was born in Al-Matania in Al-Ayyat, Giza, on December 8, 1956 and graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University in 1979, then joined the Jihad Organization.

Abu al-Faraj al-Masri was arrested after the assassination of Sadat and spent seven years in prison. He left in 1988 to Afghanistan and met Ayman al-Zawahri, the current al-Qaeda leader who attested him to bin Laden. Al-Masri was arrested again by the Egyptian security as the leader of a cell assigned by “Bin Laden” to acquire nuclear bombs, and faced trials on various charges, most of which were participation in and planning for armed operations.

He was released after the January 25 “evolution and left for Syria after the June 30 revolution. Al-Masri joined Al-Nusra Front to serve as deputy of Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the leader of Al-Nusra Front, which declared itself a branch of al-Qaeda in The Levant. He also announced the disengagement with al-Qaeda on June 28, 2016.

Mabrouk appeared next to al-Julani, and announced that they change the name of Al-Nusra Front to become the front of “Fatah al-Sham” (The Levant Conquer), and then changed the name again on January 28, 2017 to “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” (Organization for the Liberation of The Levant), with the merger with four other Islamic factions, includes Nur ad-Din Zanki movement. Mabrouk was killed in ” Jisr al-Shughour” area in ​​the countryside of “Idlib”, in an attack by the International Coalition forces on October 3, 2016.