The FBI is reported to be studying a computer and documents seized during the arrest of five North African men in the Tallaght area of Dublin last month for possible links to a terrorist network.
One of the five men arrested and later released might have ties to an Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, who was arrested in Seattle on December 14th after military explosives and home-made detonators were found in his car, according to a report in the New York Times. This arrest was one of the reasons for the cancellation of the millennium celebrations in Seattle.
The report says the Irish authorities, aware that Mr Ressam had been arrested trying to cross into the US from Canada, "decided to question the handful of Algerian and Libyan immigrants in Dublin. American officials say they asked the Irish to detain all five until a determination could be made about their potential threat".
A spokesperson at the US Embassy in Dublin is reported to have confirmed that a named individual was one of the men detained and released with the knowledge of the US authorities. The men were released after 24 hours because there was not enough evidence to hold them.
The press officer at the Irish Consulate in New York said that "we're satisfied that everything was done appropriately".
The newspaper says that "within days, authorities in Ireland and the United States began to realise that they might have missed a chance to learn more about a terrorist network". An official is quoted as saying the analysis of the computer and the documents seized during the Tallaght raid "would prove valuable to the FBI in its efforts to unravel what investigators believe was a terrorist plot to set off as many as four bombs somewhere in the United States".
Material on the computer suggested links with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been responsible for attacks on tourists and officials, according to one investigator.
An FBI spokesperson refused to comment on the report when asked by The Irish Times yesterday.
The newspaper report said the raids in Ireland were "part of a series of sweeps around the world last month, from Canada and New York to Jordan and other parts of Europe".
A Garda spokesman told The Irish Times yesterday that they had no comment to make on the matter.