According to Time Europe, investigators believe that at one point Cherifi liquidated family assets to finance a trip to an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. In searching his house after his arrest, investigators found his will in which he left a portion of his estate to the "mujahedin," and a letter to his son written when the boy was just eighteen months old urging the child to become a "warrior of Islam and martyr of jihad." Complications from diabetes, though, seem to have kept Cherifi from traveling to Afghanistan and realizing his jihadist dreams. His handlers instead urged him to concentrate his efforts on terror support instead—raising funds, relaying messages between cells, providing forged documents, and finding safe houses.
In 2002 Cherifi was convicted of trafficking counterfeit passports and sentenced to prison. According to the Taipei Times, in prison Cherifi joined forces with a terrorist group that was planning to attack "highly symbolic targets" in France. After Cherifi's release from prison in 2004, authorities continued to monitor him and his associates, and on December 12, 2005, the police rounded up 25 members of the group, some of whom are believed to have committed armed robberies to finance their plans. Cherifi is back in custody, facing a longer sentence thanks to France's tough anti-terrorist laws.
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