Cherifi is an important name from the early-to mids in the European terrorism scene. I decided to write about him not because of recent revelations, but because a number of my previous articles have touched upon him. Another reason has become apparent in the course of researching and writing it which I will touch upon in the conclusion.
Cherifi was born on May 9, , in Villepinte to Algerian parents. He was a new father. At first blush, he was a successful, well-adjusted young man. But not all was as it seemed. As far as I can tell, he first appeared in the press under the name Ouaffiri Cherifi at the beginning of his trial on January 10, He had been arrested nearly a year and a half earlier on August 21, while picking up some mail delivered to him at the site of his former employer, Novotel.
Inside were four fake passports and falsified tax stamps among other things. Authorities arrested Cherifi when he came to the hotel to retrieve them, and upon searching his home, they also found a machine to produce fraudulent credit cards. Cherifi admitted to having the materials, but stated they were only used for common criminal activity to make money. But other things found in his home and the construction of the fraudulent documents themselves would put the lie to that.
These other things consisted of jihadist literature, homemade videos of terrorists in the Bosnian and Algerian conflicts, and an audio tape of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Most damning, however, was the discovery of phone numbers in his mobile phone for members of the Frankfurt Cell involved in the Strasbourg Christmas Market plot.
Cherifi could no longer claim that the similarity in the production defects in his passports and those of the ones to be used by the Frankfurt Cell were a coincidence.
