Three Arabs were taken into custody today at Munich Airport and more than 55 departing Arab passengers were delayed by security checks as German police continued their inquiry into the Olympic killings last week. At the same time in Italy, reports claim that Arabs studying in Perugia have met with hostility and there are rumors linking them with the terrorists involved in the killings.
The three Arabs who were not immediately identified by officials, were detained because their names had been found on a piece of paper found in the wallet of one of the terrorists killed last Tuesday in a shoot-out when police tried unsuccessfully to free the nine Israeli hostages held by the terrorists. Police spokesmen also claim to have refused entry to 57 Arab passengers who tried to land today at the Munich Airport. They were put on planes for destinations outside West Germany.
According to government sources, nine Arab underground organizations with a total of 110 subsidiary groups are known to the authorities to be operating on West German soil. There are 20,000 Arab migrant workers and 16,000 Arab students currently registered in West Germany, about 3000 of them Palestinians. These groups are believed to provide the terrorist cells with recruits.
The reports from Perugia stated that 15 to 20 Arab students have been taken cut of Perugia and expelled from Italy. The formal reason for the measure was said to be failure to comply with the rules that oblige every foreigner, except tourists, to register with the police. Implied in the arrests was the suspicion that the expelled Arabs might be members of conspiratorial networks.
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