Author:
Publication: CNN News
Date: October 5, 2001
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/05/inv.terror.investigation/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man suspected
of playing a key role in bankrolling the September 11 terrorist attacks
in the United States was released from prison in India less than two years
ago after hijackers of an Indian Airlines flight demanded his freedom,
a senior- level U.S. government source told CNN.
This source said U.S. investigators
now believe Sheik Syed, using the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad, sent more
than $100,000 from Pakistan to Mohammed Atta, the suspected hijacking ringleader
who piloted one of the jetliners into the World Trade Center.
Investigators said Atta then distributed
the funds to conspirators in Florida in the weeks before the deadliest
act of terrorism on U.S. soil that destroyed the World Trade Center, heavily
damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead.
In addition, sources have said Atta
sent thousands of dollars -- believed to be excess funds from the operation
-- back to Syed in the United Arab Emirates in the days before September
11.
Syed also is described as a key
figure in the funding operation of al Qaeda, the network headed by suspected
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
But Syed would still be in prison
were it not for the December 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814
-- an ordeal strikingly similar to the four hijackings carried out on September
11.
The plane, with 178 passengers on
board, was en route from Katmandu, Nepal, to New Delhi, India, when terrorists
used knives to take control of the aircraft, slitting the throat of one
passenger to force the pilots to open the cockpit door.
For eight days, the passengers and
crew were held hostage in a terrifying journey that finally ended up in
Kandahar, Afghanistan, when the Indian government agreed to release three
Islamic militants held in Indian prisons.
One of those men was Syed, widely
recognized as the leader of an al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic militant group
known as Harkat-ul-Muhahedin, which is fighting for independence for Kashmir,
a disputed region between India and Pakistan.
Because investigators have now determined
that Syed and Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad are the same person, it provides another
key link to bin Laden as the mastermind of the overall plot. Investigators
have said at least three of the 19 suspected hijackers were tied to al
Qaeda.
Syed was educated at the London
School of Economics and has experience in international money transfers.
Indian intelligence officials said the last time they spotted him was six
months ago at a bookstore in Islamabad, Pakistan.
"He is also linked to the financial
network feeding bin Laden's assets, so therefore he's quite an important
person," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert. "He's quite an influential
person because he transfers money between various operatives, and he's
a node between al Qaeda and foot soldiers on the ground."
CNN Correspondents Kelli Arena and
Mike Boettcher contributed to this report.
