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Posted on 09/25/2001 8:33:28 AM PDT by dead

The hijackers had no use for money where they were going.

In the days leading up to the suicide attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, at least six of the 19 hijackers wired thousands of dollars from the United States to bank accounts in the Middle East.

Many of the accounts lead back to one man - Mustafa Ahmed - an elusive character who is emerging as a crucial link between the Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and the perpetrators of the worst act of terrorism on American soil. FBI investigators believe Ahmed was the banker who helped distribute the finances for the operation, which is now believed to have cost $US200,000 ($406,000).

The suspected hijackers' ringleader, Egyptian Mohamed Atta, wired $US10,000 to two Middle Eastern accounts a few days before the attacks. More money was funnelled back by Nabil al Marabh, regarded as a key link in a Boston cell loyal to bin Laden which appears to have figured prominently in arranging accommodation and transport in the final days before the attack.

FBI agents picked up al Marabh in Chicago last week and interrogated him for four days before he was flown to New York, where he is being held without charge. He is one of 350 people detained in the largest investigation in US history. Most are being held on immigration breaches while investigators seek any links to the hijackers. Many more have been questioned and released, in cases of mistaken identity.

Two men faced court on Monday charged with helping several of the hijackers obtain false identity cards last month in the State of Virginia. They were the first to face a judge on counts associated with the attacks.

Herbert Villalobos and another man, whose identity is being protected by the court, signed false declarations for the hijackers to obtain ID cards they later used to gain drivers' licences, credit cards and to buy airline tickets. Prosecutors have made no more sinister link between the pair and the hijackers other than to suggest the terrorists became customers in a long-running identity scam.

The US Attorney-General, Mr John Ashcroft, said in testimony before a congressional committee on Monday that the FBI wanted to question about 400 more people. He said the investigation so far had yielded 324 searches, 103 court orders and 3,410 subpoenas.

The FBI and CIA have identified up to 1,000 people living in the US who have terrorist links, though not all can be connected with bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation.

Pursuing the money trail is now a priority. It appears to lead from the hijackers back to the shady realm of bin Laden's bankers in the Middle East.

Most of the money was probably left over from the cost of flight lessons, accommodation, hire cars and airline tickets. It is likely that the rest - running into tens of thousands of dollars - was the proceeds of legitimate business dealings conducted by al-Qaeda operatives, or "sleepers".

These people have been in the US for years, living normal existences in suburbia. Few have been called on to help in any terrorist activity. Their purpose appears to be helping to fund the organisation by redirecting profits into the Middle Eastern accounts.

The two key players in these transactions appear to be Ahmed, the al-Qaeda banker, and al Marabh. CIA intelligence has established that Ahmed is operating out of the United Arab Emirates. He had at least one known contact in the past year with Mohamed Atta, who has emerged as the central figure among the hijackers.

Atta's family in Cairo continues to proclaim his innocence. And Egyptian newspapers report that he was kidnapped and killed by agents from the Israeli intelligence organisation, Mossad, and that his identity was assumed by the real terrorist ringleader.

However, Atta was indisputably caught on airport cameras in Portland, Maine, boarding a flight to Boston to connect with one of the hijacked planes.

He has also been identified by key witnesses in the investigation, including flight school operators in Florida, a honky-tonk bar operator in Florida, where Atta and another hijacker spent their last night, a motel operator who remembers him booking a room for himself and several others two nights before the attacks, and a man who reported having an argument with him over a parking spot in Portland airport before Atta flew to Boston.

Newsweek reports this week that one of the two bags Atta booked onto the hijacked jet he is now suspected of piloting into the World Trade Centre did not make it on to the flight. Inside it, investigators found a final prayer written by Atta that read in part: "Be prepared to meet your God. Be ready for this moment."

Agents have uncovered several common threads as they continue to build the profiles of the 19 suicide hijackers. Up to a dozen of them were young Saudis from poor regions who had dedicated their lives to fighting for Islamic causes.

Many of their families have spoken to Saudi newspapers, saying the men had become increasingly radical in their religious adherence in recent years.

Six of them left their homes in the past two years, telling their families they intended to fight with Muslim rebels in Chechnya.

Instead, all followed circuitous routes to the US where they entered flight courses organised by Atta. Several of the flight school operators said the men were not very good at landings or take-offs - ultimately skills they didn't need.

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