Malaysia orders terror suspect held, says he has more to tell about al-Qaeda

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has extended for two more years the imprisonment of a terror suspect linked to al-Qaeda's attempts to produce chemical and biological weapons, saying he has more information about terrorist operations.

Yazid Sufaat, a U.S.-trained biochemist and former Malaysian army captain, was arrested in late 2001 as he returned home from Afghanistan, where officials say he was working on a biological and chemical weapons program for al-Qaeda that was ended by the U.S.-led war.

Since then, he has been held without trial under Malaysia's Internal Security Act on accusations of being a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda ally in Southeast Asia.

Yazid, 40, has been described as a key aide of Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, an Indonesian who was operational chief of Jemaah Islamiyah and a high-ranking al-Qaeda leader.

Hambali was arrested in Thailand last August and is in U.S. custody. He is believed to have given up information on al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah plots and personnel.

Malaysian officials have said Yazid has only selectively cooperated in responding to questions, but knows more about the chemical and biological weapons program than Hambali.

A senior Malaysian official said Yazid could verify information provided by Hambali. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The Security Act allows for indefinite detention without trial, in two-year stints authorized by government orders. Yazid's first two-year detention order had been due to expire Friday.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also home minister in charge of security, signed a new detention order effective Friday.

Yazid is the most high-profile terrorist suspect among about 70 detained in Malaysia.

FBI agents interrogated Yazid in November 2002, but failed to get much information. Malaysian authorities have indicated they would consider an FBI request to interview him again, but have ruled out extradition.

Security officials have told AP that Yazid described the chemical and biological weapons program he and Hambali were building for al-Qaeda as being in the "conceptual stages" when their plans were interrupted by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Yazid graduated from California State University-Sacramento in 1987 with a biochemistry degree. He returned home and joined the army, reaching captain.

After leaving the military and starting a computer business, Yazid began attending religious classes run by Hambali, and was recruited into his budding terror network.

Yazid is accused of allowing Hambali and other top al-Qaeda operatives — including two eventual Sept. 11 hijackers — to use an apartment he owned for meetings in Malaysia in January 2000. He also is accused of giving a false letter of employment to Sept. 11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui that helped him enter the United States.

Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for the October 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people and a hotel bombing in Jakarta last August that killed 12 people.

I think this is Poker's latest on Yazid Sufaat, at his website:

"Participants at a key meeting in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000 included regional Al Qaeda operative Hambali, two of the 9/11 hijackers (Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almidhar), Cole planner Tawfiq bin Attash, and others. According to some reports, Khalid Mohammed was also there. Tawfiq Bin Attash was a long time Bin Laden operative. The Yemeni first went to Afghanistan in 1989. He came to lead Bin Laden's bodyguards and was an intermediary between Bin Laden and those who carried out the bombing of the Cole in October 2000. Khalid Almihdhar, one of the 9/11 hijackers, was from Saudi Arabia but was a Yemeni national. Almihdhar was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui.

Zacarias Moussaoui was alleged to have received his money from Yazid Sufaat, under the cover of a company managed by his wife named Infocus Tech, an importer of US computer software and hardware. Sufaat, who was arrested upon returning from Afghanistan to Malaysia where he had been serving in a Taliban medical brigade, graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 1987. He received a bachelors degree in biological sciences, concentrating on clinical laboratory technology, with a minor in chemistry. Sufaat joined the Malaysian army, where he was a lab technician assigned to a medical brigade. After five years, he left the service with the rank of captain and worked for a civilian laboratory. In August 1993, he set up his own company, Green Laboratory Medicine.

After authorities found a letter signed by Yazid Sufaat purporting to authorize Zacarias Moussaoui as its marketing representative, they went looking for Sufaat. But by then, Sufaat had left for Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to his wife, he went to Pakistan in June 2001 because he wanted to do his doctorate in pathology at the University of Karachi. According to his wife, Sejarhtul Dursina, "He had planned to set up a medical support unit in Afghanistan, near Kandahar." (Kandahar is where Al Qaeda established its anthrax lab.) Dursina had attended Sacramento State with him. It was her mother who encouraged Yazid's religious studies.

According to Malaysian officials, Sufaat merely was a foot soldier who provided housing and false identification letters and helped obtain explosives. "I would put it this way: If Hambali [Al Qaeda's point man in Southeast Asia] was the travel agent, Sufaat was the guy at the airport holding up the sign." Sufaat admits to having purchased 4 tons of ammonium nitrate to build a truck bomb for the Singapore cell. The ammonium nitrate eventually was found buried throughout the grounds of a plantation.

The Malaysian officials report that they believe that Sufaat had no knowledge of what the hijackers who stayed at his condominium or Zacarias were planning. At a minimum, however, the established facts relevant to the Amerithrax investigation show that in the Summer and Fall of 2001 an Al Qaeda supporter who had assisted in the 9-11 operation -- and who was a lab technician working with anthrax -- was in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Was he the fellow perceived as Filipino who the journalist met in Afghanistan in the Fall of 2001 bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax? The authorities may not think so given the comments of Malaysian officials and Sufaat's attorney's description of the 30-minute FBI interrogation (where they mainly wanted to know how he knew Zacarias). The U.S. has asked for his extradition in connection with hosting of the two 9/11 hijackers, but at last report, Malaysia had refused.

The connection between the folks in Karachi and the operatives in Kuala Lumpur was clarified and confirmed by the arrest in May 2002 of Mohammed Monsour Jabarah. This young man told interrogators that the codeword for Americans was "White Meat," suggesting unclean pork. He was a go-between Khalid Mohammed in Karachi and Hambali in Kuala Lumpur. He delivered the money for the bombing attacks planned for Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Arrested in March 2002, he had joined Al Qaeda in May 2001.

In his interrogation, the Catholic-schooled youth, said that KSM had asked him to "go to Malaysia to meet with individuals who were planning an operation against the US and Israeli embassies in the Philippines." Osama Bin Laden, with whom he met, valued the youth for his clean Canadian passport and fluency in English. KSM told the young man that he must leave Karachi to deliver the money to Hambali, Al Qaeda's point man in Southeast Asia and the military chief for Jemiah Islamiyah, before September 11. He flew out to deliver the money on September 10, 2001.

Hambali earlier had met with Mohammed Mansour Jabarah in Karachi in August 2001. Jabarah is cooperating and is available to testify in an Amerithrax prosecution. Documents relating to Jabarah's brother's role were found in May 2003 upon a raid in Riyadh that foiled an attempt that preceded the bombing of several residential compounds. The picture of his home in St. Catherines, Ontario, bringing to mind the movie "Arlington Road" about the terrorist who lived next door.

Hambali was arrested in mid-August 2003 in Thailand. His wife, Lee, an ethnic Chinese Malaysian who converted to Islam, was also detained. Given that Hambali reportedly set up a meeting with two of the 9/11 hijackers and was the one who recruited Yazid Sufaat, the Malaysian lab technician reportedly engaged in anthrax R&D, the arrest bodes well for the prospect of a successful resolution of the Amerithrax matter. He eventually began providing information about Al Qaeda's anthrax production program.

Other good news came when it was announced -- or at least reported -- that the second in command of Egyptian Islamist Jihad after Zawahiri, Shehata, is one of the detainees in Iran. Given the important role he allegedly played in supporting operations, his arrest may be very significant to resolution of the Amerithrax matter (along with Hambali's). He reportedly was in charge of the Jihad’s security committee, which provides logistics to the military wing, special operations and individuals involved in attacks. Al Qaeda's military operations chief, an Egyptian named Adel, recently advised sympathizers not to believe reports of the arrest of other cell members. He may very well be right --and indeed some reports had Adel arrested.

In any event, Shehata, whether detained in Iran or not, was born in the Egyptian city of Zagazig in 1960 and became involved in Islamic movements when he joined law school in Zagazig University. In 1984, he shared an office with Attorney Zayat, who has represented both the blind sheik and Zawahiri. Al Zayat was the attorney in 1999 who had said that Zawahiri could be expected to use biological weapons in light of the extradition pressure its leaders faced.

The sheer variety of arrests -- with the resulting ability to corroborate (or not) the information given -- may in the end be enough to crack the Amerithrax mystery.

* Mohammed Jamal Khalifa : His [Mohammed Jamal Khalifa's?] business cards have been found in the Jersey City, New Jersey apartment that [Ramzi] Yousef [aka Adam Salih] had. They also have been found in Ramzi Yousef's Manila apartment. [Mohammed Jamal] Khalifa had started several other groups, including the [International Islamic Relief Organization aka IIRO] and the Khalifa Trading Industries, which U.S. investigators claim that were front organizations. .------------ December 16, 2003 http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:fth9KYfHFdoJ:www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mohammed-Jamal-Khalifa+Mohammed+Jamal+Khalifa&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

* Walid Khan Amin Shah : [Mohammed Jamal] Khalifa [ founder of International Islamic Relief Organization and the Khalifa Trading Industries] and Bayazid [president of Benevolence International Foundation] were arrested in December 14, 1994 in Mountain View, California on charges related to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Khalifa was planning to fly to the Philippines.
When the FBI looked inside Khalifa's luggage, they found manuals in Arabic on training terrorists, which covered subjects such as bomb-making and other violent activities. Khalifa claims that his possession of the materials was in innocence.
They also found a personal organizer with several contacts. One phone number was for Wali Khan Amin Shah, a member of the Manila cell, which was plotting Operation Bojinka at the time. There was also a listing for an unknown man, who might have been Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Khalifa was placed in solitairy confinement and the contents of his luggage were logged and edited. http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:fth9KYfHFdoJ:www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mohammed-Jamal-Khalifa+Mohammed+Jamal+Khalifa&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

JANUARY 5, 1995 : (SEC OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER WRITES TO ATTNY GEN JANET RENO, PRESSURING HER TO DEPORT MOHAMMED JAMAL KHALIFA) "Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno on Jan. 5, 1995, arguing that 'to permit Mr. [Mohammed Jamal] Khalifa to remain at large inside the United States in light of his alleged activities and criminal conviction in Jordan . . . . would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.'"
"Of course," notes the author, "the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco wasn't asking for Khalifa to be released, merely held for questioning. Khalifa had traveled the world as Osama bin Laden's 'banker.' He was a potential intelligence gold mine."
Secretary Christopher, however, prevailed. Khalifa was deported to Jordan, where, at trial, the murder witness recanted. Bin Laden's banker was promptly set free. U.S. counterterrorism officials were dumbfounded by the administration's decision to let Khalifa go. "Not even speaking in retrospect, but contemporaneous with what the intelligence community knew about bin Laden, Khalifa's deportation was unreal," CIA counterterrorism analyst Jacob L. Boesen told the author.
Concludes Lance: "In light of what we now know. . . Khalifa's release has to be considered one of the most grievous instances of negligence in the years leading up to 9/11.[/2001]" ----------- Clinton Administration Freed Bin Laden's Banker, News Max, Sunday Jan. 4, 2004; 11:43 p.m. EST

Speaking of the IIRO:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday named the Philippine and Indonesian branches of the International Islamic Relief Organization as fund-raisers for al Qaeda and other terror groups. It also designated one of the Saudi-based organization's high-ranking officials, Abd Al Hamid Sulaiman Al-Mujil, as a fund-raiser for al Qaeda. The action means that no American can have any dealings with the two branches of the organization or with Al-Mujil and that any assets they have in the United States will be frozen.
"Al-Mujil has a long record of supporting Islamic militant groups, and he has maintained a cell of regular financial donors in the Middle East who support extremist positions," said Stuart Levey, Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
A Treasury official said the organization had no offices in the United States.
In a background paper, the department said Al-Mujil had provided donor funds directly to al Qaeda. He was sometimes called the "million dollar man" for supporting Islamic militant groups, including Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf Group, both based in Southeast Asia, it said ----- "US Treasury names suspected al Qaeda fund-raisers," Reuters Staff, Yahoo News/Reuters, August 3, 2006

More on the IIRO :

The Philippine branches of the IIRO were founded sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s by Muhammad Jamal Khalifah, who is Usama bin Laden's brother-in-law and has been identified as a senior al Qaida member. IIRO-PHL's director, Abd al-Hadi Daguit, is a trusted associate of Khalifah.
While working as the director of IIRO-PHL, Khalifah maintained close connections with al Qaida through his relations with senior al Qaida supporters, including Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Wa'el Hamza Julaidan. At the time Khalifah directed the IIRO-PHL, he employed an ASG intelligence officer as the provincial director of the IIRO-PHL in the Tawi-Tawi region of the Southern Philippines until that officer's death in 1994.
In the mid 1990s, a major ASG supporter, Mahmud Abd Al-Jalil Afif, served as the director of the IIRO-PHL and used the organization to funnel money to terrorist groups including the ASG. Afif was implicated in the assassination of Father Salvatore Carzeda in San Jose Gusu, Zamboanga City, Philippines on June 20, 1992. ------ "Treasury Designates Director, Branches of Charity Bankrolling Al Qaida Network," August 3, 2006, hp-45, Treasury Press Release

So, who is Wael Hamza Jalaidan?

Well, he is associated with the Tucson, Arizona "cell" according to ol' Judith Miller :

* Wael Hamza Jalaidan :
The organization that eventually evolved into Al Qaeda (the name means "the base" in Arabic) began as the Makhtab al Khadimat, the Office of Services, in Peshawar, Pakistan, according to federal prosecutors, trial testimony and terrorism analysts.
Ms. Katz says that the Makhtab's journal, Al Jihad (holy war), was initially distributed in the United States in 1986 by the Islamic Center of Tucson. The center was also listed at the time as the Office of Services' [Makhtab al Khadimat's] only American branch.
Two people later associated with the Tucson center — Wael Hamza Jalaidan, its director, and Wadih El-Hage — were eventually linked to Al Qaeda by the authorities. Last year, the government listed Mr. Jalaidan, who heads the Saudi-based World Muslim League, as a founder of Al Qaeda and its logistics chief. Mr. El-Hage was convicted more than a decade later in the 1998 conspiracy to bomb American embassies in Africa. -------- "U.S. Long Underestimated Qaeda's Scope, Officials Say," JUDITH MILLER and DON VAN NATTA Jr., The New York Times, June 9, 2002

What is signifigant about Tucson besides what is mentioned here?

Al Fuqra, the Terror Group Nobody Ever Talks About :

JANUARY 31, 1990. (TUCSON, ARIZONA : ATTACK ON BLACK CLERIC RASHID KHALIFA BY EL HAGE'S GROUP & JAMAAT AL FUQRA) Rashad Khalifa, controversial Muslim leader in Tucson, Ariz., is stabbed to death. A black Muslim cleric named Rashid Khalifa was murdered in Tucson. Khalifa had practiced a sect that was deemed heretical by fundamentalist Muslims. He was soon marked for death. According to federal prosecutors and to information volunteered by El Hage in interviews he gave to FBI agents, a still unidentified man was sent to Tucson to do surveillance on Khalifa. This person visited El Hage at his home, had lunch together and then was driven by El Hage to Khalifa's mosque where the visitor recorded the movements of Khalifa. El Hage admitted before the grand jury that he never reported this visit to the authorities even though Khalifa was later found murdered. Federal records show that Kalifa was killed by a member of the Al-Fuqra organization, a black Muslim fundamentalist group that has engaged in a series of murders, robberies, and other attacks in Colorado and Canada. Members of AlFuqra were also indicted and convicted in the World Trade Center bombing conspiracy trials. Sources familiar with the investigation say that Al-Fuqra as early as 1988 in acquiring weapons and recruiting volunteers for the jihad in Afghanistan.

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