Report: Intelligence Nabbed 74 Terrorists Over 5 Years

The National Intelligence Service said yesterday that it caught over the past five years 74 members of international terrorist groups in Korea plotting attacks or gathering intelligence, including those from the Southeast Asian branch of Al-Qaida.

The spy agency said this in a report given to main opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Won Hye-young, who is also a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, on infiltration by international terrorist groups. Since 2003, 19 cases of terrorist activities have been reported in Korea, and 74 known terrorists have been arrested or deported.

The report said the terrorists usually used Korea as a base for terrorist activities, but also planned attacks here. Eight suspects connected with Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian network linked to Al-Qaida, were deported in October 2004 while plotting a terrorist attack on an embassy in Seoul. The militant Islamic organization is believed responsible for the 2002 terrorist attack in Bali and the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta.

In May this year, four Middle Eastern nationals were arrested on the charge of smuggling African drugs with the Taliban. In July, two people from Southwest Asia were nabbed for trying to supply a large quantity of narcotics to the Taliban via Korea.

gaea@donga.com