Italian Police Arrest Two Red Brigades Suspects

[2 articles]

Italian Police Arrest Two Red Brigades Suspects

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2010/01/19/2001s543449.htm

2010-01-19

Italian anti-terrorist police on Monday arrested two men suspected of
being linked to the Red Brigades' new militia which was responsible
of a wave of violence in the 1970s and 1980s.

According to the authorities, the two were conspiring to recreate a
similar network of the leftist militants.

Police said Manolo Morlacchi, 39, and Costantino Virgilio, 34, were
caught in Milan with computer files providing a sort of "terrorist
manual" with instructions on how to encrypt files and surf the
Internet undetected.

The document, titled "code of computer conduct for revolutionaries,"
reinforced suspicions that the two men were connected to a modern-day
revival of the Red Brigades.

The arrests followed a two-year investigation. In June another five
Red Brigade revivalists were caught by the police. They were plotting
for an attack during the Group of Eight (G8) summit in L'Aquila in July.

During the June operation, police found a weapons cache near Genoa
containing automatic rifles, handguns, hand grenades and hundreds of
rounds of ammunition.

Neither Morlacchi nor Virgilio were involved in the June arrests, but
remained under surveillance.

Morlacchi, whose father was also a member of the Red Brigades,
published his memoirs in 2007 titled "Fleeing Forward" about his
upbringing in a militant leftist family.

Italian authorities have been on the alert for a resurgence of
terrorist violence since the killing of two government aides in 1999
and 2002 by radicals claiming to be the heirs of the original Red
Brigades, whose activity culminated in 1978 with the kidnapping and
murder of Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro.

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Italy: Son of Red Brigade founder arrested for terrorism

http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=17423

19-01-2010

Rome, (ANSA): The son of a 1970s leftist militant who helped found
the notorious Red Brigades (BR) terrorist network was one of two men
arrested on Monday on charges of trying to revive the leftist militant group.

Manolo Morlacchi, 39, is the son of the late Pierino Morlacchi, who
co-founded the first BR 'cell' in 1972 together with the Renato
Curcio, the group's leader during its early years.

Morlacchi was arrested together with Costantino Virgilio, 34, with
word files described as a ''computer manual for revolutionaries''.

According to police, the file contained instructions for encrypting
documents and avoiding police detection on the internet.

After a five-hour interrogation on Monday the suspects were taken to
custody where they will await trial on charges of conspiring with terrorists.

Police said the two have been on their radar since June when they
arrested five other BR revivalists allegedly planning an attack on
the July Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila. While neither Morlacchi
nor Virgilio were arrested in the June operation, investigators
searched their homes and found large amounts of material suggesting
that they were both core members.

Morlacchi is a well known figure in radical circles in Milan and came
to national prominence in 2007 with the publication of his memoirs,
entitled ''Fleeing Forward'' about his upbringing in a militant
leftist family.

In addition to his father, his East German mother was also a BR
member and likewise in and out of jail for much of his childhood.

His brother, Ernesto, is also suspected of collaborating with neo-BR
groups and was among those investigated in June. After the 1999 and
2002 killing of two government aides, authorities have been on the
alert against a resurgence of leftist terrorism, which culminated in
1978 with the kidnapping and murder of Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro.

But Interior Minister Roberto Maroni hailed the arrests as ''proof
that law enforcement is on top of BR terrorism''.

Maroni vowed that the government would keep its ''guard up'' against
a possible return to the kind of political violence which
characterized the heyday of the BR in the late 1970s.

A Senator with the opposition Democratic Party Silvana Amati said the
inter-generational aspect of Monday's arrests should remind parents
to teach their children just how bad that period really was.

"Helping children understand what it was like back then is the best
way to keep them from being infected by the anger that made it all
possible," she said.

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