Posted on 02/26/2002 4:36:38 AM PST by truthandlife
.S. and European investigators say an associate of an international arms dealer was providing key information in efforts to disrupt a network suspected of supplying weapons to the Taliban and al Qaeda, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper cited investigators who said U.S. intelligence agencies working to crack the arms empire of Victor Bout had been aided by inside information from a suspected top associate who is under arrest in Belgium.
According to the paper, U.S. and European officials said Bout's associate, Sanjivan Ruprah, was arrested in Belgium earlier this month.
U.S. officials and Ruprah's attorney told the paper that prior to the arrest, Ruprah had secretly been providing U.S. officials with information about Bout's operation.
The U.S. officials were cited as saying that Ruprah had provided details about Bout's suspected arms deliveries to the Taliban and the al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Bout had long been suspected of supplying weapons to Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s ousted Taliban regime, the Post said. But U.S. and European officials told the paper fresh intelligence from Afghanistan and elsewhere provided new details about arms flights and deliveries in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
The newspaper said U.S. and U.N. officials familiar with the material said it suggested Bout had been flying weapons into Afghanistan more recently than had been believed.
U.S., British and U.N. investigators consider Bout's United Arab Emirates-based operation to be unique because of its ability to deliver sophisticated weapon systems virtually anywhere in the world, the Post said.
The investigators told the newspaper they believe Bout has also run guns for the Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrilla movement in the Philippines, as well as rebel forces in Africa.
The paper cited four separate U.N. Security Council reports as saying that Bout specialized in breaking arms embargoes around the world.
It said he has refused to talk to U.N. investigators or reporters.
I read many American newspapers that said terrorists bought their weapons at gun shows.
/gungrabbing rat voice>off.
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