California Boosts Security After Arrests
Homeland Defense E-Alerts
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DON THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Police doubled security near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and set up security cordons at Disneyland and Universal Studios on Tuesday after police in Spain seized videos of the sites from suspected al-Qaida terrorists.
California Highway Patrol officers fanned out to talk to local police and beefed up security Tuesday soon after the arrests became public, said George Vinson, the security adviser for Gov. Gray Davis.
``We're just taking it very significantly because of where it comes from,'' Vinson said.
Investigators have previously found similar video tapes, maps and pictures _ though not of California sites, Vinson said.
``We've been through this drill a number of times,'' Vinson said. ``Just possessing that stuff isn't against the law, and without something further from interviews or whatever, it's difficult to tell if they were planning an attack.''
The three men arrested Tuesday in Spain are Syrian and two had Spanish nationality.
One suspect, Ghasoub Al-Abrash Ghalyoun, was arrested in April but released.
Videos seized from him then were shot during a U.S. trip in 1997 and included images of the World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty, Chicago's Sears Tower and the California locations.
Spanish officials said the suspension pillar of the Golden Gate Bridge ``is given substantial attention.''
The images were not the form and type usually taken by tourists, Spain's interior ministry said.
Other videos showed Islamic fighters training in camps and during combat scenes in Chechnya, the statement said.
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