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French scientist ‘plotted to bomb huge oil refinery’
Peter Allen and Nabila Ramdani13 Oct 2009
A French nuclear scientist linked to al Qaeda targeted an oil refinery so he could cause an explosion which would have destroyed a city “the size of London”, it was claimed today.
Adlene Hicheur also compiled an “assassination” list of European politicians including French president Nicolas Sarkozy and interior minister Brice Hortefeux.
Hicheur, 32, who works on the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research near Geneva, is on remand in Paris after being charged with “criminal activities related to a terrorist group”.
Security sources spoke of the physicist's alleged plans today after collecting evidence against him for 18 months. During that time Hicheur, who is of Algerian origin, is said to have corresponded with leaders of al Qaeda's North African unit over the internet.
Hicheur allegedly planned to blow up a Total oil refinery. The security source said: “He had offered his services to strike with an active service unit based in France. He had started to compile a precise list of intended targets including a Total oil refinery which would have caused an explosion which would have destroyed a city the size of London.
“Assassination targets including the president and interior minister were also on the list.”
Hicheur, who also worked at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, could face a long jail sentence.
Judge Christophe Teissier heard that the French authorities worked with MI5 and the CIA to track Hicheur's movements, with fears that he had a nuclear attack in mind. Mr Hortefeux said the threat he posed was so serious that he ordered his arrest last week.
