US still looking for four ecoterrorists from ski resort attack

Nov 19, 2008, 21:13 GMT

Washington - Ten years after an arson attack on a Colorado ski resort, the FBI Wednesday said it was still looking for four suspects who are believed to have fled abroad, and doubled the reward for information leading to their arrest.

The suspects are believed to have belonged to a group called the Family, which is blamed for the torching a ski resort in Vail, Colorado, causing 26 million dollars in damages.

The FBI upped the reward for information to 50,000 dollars about the whereabouts of Josephine Overaker, Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, Justin Franchi Solondz and Rebecca Rubin.

Overaker has been on the run since 2001 and might be living in Spain. Dibee is reckoned to live in Syria. Solondz could be anywhere in Canada, Europe or Asia, and Rubin is believed to be in the US or Canada, officials said.

The group acted in the name of the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, which is also suspected in other arsons, vandalism and illegal animal releases in the US. Overall damages blamed on crimes by the Family amounts to 48 million dollars, the FBI said.

'Any way you look at it, these individuals are considered as terrorists.  Regardless of their political or social message, their actions were criminal and they violated federal laws,' said Michael B Ward, deputy assistant director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division.