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Crowe's al-Qaida kidnap plot
Showbiz
13:30 09 March 2005
Russell Crowe has revealed he was the target of a terrifying al-Qaida kidnap plot.
The New Zealand-born actor was warned by agents of the FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, that he was being targeted by the terrorist network.
Crowe claims the FBI told him - before the horrific 9/11 attacks in 2001 - that terrorists had devised a "cultural destabilisation plan" to take a number of high profile actors hostage to shock the US.
He told Australia's GQ magazine: "That was the first time I'd ever heard the phrase al-Qaida. It was something to do with a recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers.
"It was about - and here's another little touch of irony - taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural destabilisation plan."
The Oscar-winning actor says the the threat was so serious he was provided with protection for four years.
In the early months of 2001, Crowe claims he attended a host of film premieres and high profile awards ceremonies flanked by fully armed FBI agents scouting for possible threats.
At some ceremonies agents even disguised themselves in dinner jackets.
(c) BANG Media International
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