Al Qaeda suspect held in Italy

ROME, Italy -- Italian police have arrested a man suspected of having links to arms trafficking and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network for travelling on a false passport, a police spokesman told Reuters.

Police acting on a tip-off, arrested Sanjivan Ruprah, 36, in the northern town of Cremona, outside Milan, on Friday, the news agency reported.

He was travelling on a false Belgian passport, the spokesman said.

"Sanjivan Ruprah is an internationally known figure," he told Reuters. "He is known as an international trafficker of arms and diamonds and has already been arrested in Belgium, from where he was released on bail."

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Kenyan-born Ruprah's name appears on a list published by the United Nations in 1999 of people banned from international flights because of links to arms and diamond trafficking in Africa.

The Washington Post reported in February that Ruprah had been secretly providing U.S. and European investigators with information about a Russian associate Victor Bout, who was suspected of supplying weapons to al Qaeda.

The Post report appeared about three weeks after Ruprah was arrested in Belgium for what police said was possession of false documents and criminal association.

In February a Tunisian suspected of heading Osama bin Laden's European logistics operations was convicted by a court in Milan and jailed for five years.

Essid Sami Ben Khemais was convicted on charges including supplying false documents, breaking immigration laws, and criminal association with intent to obtain and transport arms, explosives and chemicals.

He was arrested as part of a sweeping investigation into bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Europe spearheaded by Italian and German authorities.

Three other Tunisians who were on trial with him -- Belgacem Mohamed Ben Aouadi, Bouchoucha Mokhtar and Charaabi Tarek -- were convicted on the same charges and sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Reuters contributed to this report.