2001 : (BOSTON, MA : SIDDIQUI WRITES DOCTORAL THESIS) Mrs. Siddiqui is a 1994 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and wrote a doctoral thesis for Brandeis University in 2001, according to the Associated Press. ------- "Suspect in terror plot still at large," By Jon Ward, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, June 16, 2003
JUNE 2001 midmonth : (MONROVIA, LIBERIA : A WOMAN ARRIVES FROM QUETTA, PAKISTAN, AND PICKS UP A PARCEL OF GEMS FROM THE ILLEGAL DIAMOND TRADE - AN INFORMANT WOULD LATER RECOGNIZE HER AS SIDDIQUI) The men were ready. They knew the woman who would be joining them for the week was a high-profile Al Qaeda operative. They'd been told she should be treated with the utmost respect. She would arrive in Liberia's bustling capital, Monrovia, on a plane from Quetta, Pakistan. She was to be driven to the safe house, the Hotel Boulevard, where other Al Qaeda figures had stayed, and taken good care of until the deal was done. The trip from the airport was a hot hour long, and the woman spoke in English to the driver on the way. The driver, who would later become the chief informant in a United Nations-led investigation, described her as a quiet Islamic woman who wore a traditional headscarf and kept mostly to herself. She spent the week holed up in her room, making trips into town for small errands.
About a week after her arrival, the woman left Monrovia as quietly as she had entered, but now she had what she had come for: a large parcel containing gems from Africa's illegal diamond trade. They would be used as a convenient, hard-to-trace way of funding Al Qaeda's global terror operations. It was mid-June 2001, three months before September 11. -------- "Who's Afraid of Aafia Siddiqui?" by Katherine Ozment, From the October 2004 issue. http://www.bostonmagazine.com/ArticleDisplay.php?id=461 [* Not sure if this witness account pans out]
***
WASHINGTON: Aafia Siddiqi, the highly-qualified 29-year old Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist wanted by the FBI for her alleged membership of Al Qaeda, once flew from Quetta to Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, on a gem-smuggling assignment.
According to a detailed profile published by a Boston magazine, until the FBI called her a terrorist, she was living a “normal” life in Boston with her children and her doctor husband. In reality, the article by Katherine Ozment says, she was a “high-profile Al Qaeda operative”. She often travelled to Monrovia on her secret missions and would be driven to Hotel Boulevard, where other Al Qaeda figures had stayed, and “taken good care of until the deal was done”. The man who would drive her from the airport to the hotel, a 60-minute drive, would later become the chief informant in a United Nations-led investigation. He described her as a quiet woman who wore a traditional headscarf and kept mostly to herself. She spent the week holed up in her room, making trips into town for small errands.
On one of her trips to Monrovia in June 2001, she left as quietly as she had entered, but with a large parcel containing gems from Africa’s illegal diamond trade. They would be used as a convenient, hard-to-trace way of funding Al Qaeda’s global terror operations. She was not seen again in Monrovia, --------"The strange story of Aafia Siddiqui," By Khalid Hasan, Daily Times (Pakistan) (October 31, 2004) http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-11-2004_pg7_47
************
[* My note: See el Hage who was into the gemstone trade with someone fromt he northwest US]
JULY 9, 2001 to AUGUST 28, 2001 : ($50,000 SENT TO SAUDI EMPLOYEES FROM RIGGS BANK) Between July 9, 2001, and Aug. 28, 2001: 50 separate $1,000 American Express travelers checks were sent to Saudi employees from the Riggs Bank; seven of the checks were deposited at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
Riggs [Bank] also reported $19,200 in payments from the Saudi Embassy to Gulshair al-Shukrijumah, a Florida-based imam connected to Omar Abdul Rahman, convicted of a 1996 plot to blow up New York City landmarks. Gulshair al-Shukrijumah's son, Adnan al-Shukrijumah, is a suspected al-Qaeda operative being sought by the FBI, said Newsweek.
------- "Report on Hub terror: Guerrillas in our midst: Fleet, FBI probe couple," By J.M. Lawrence, The Boston Herald, Friday, April 9, 2004, http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=483
JULY 2001 : (RESHOOD & AL DHAHRI TAKE OVER KHAN & SIDDIQUI'S LEASE) In July 2001, two Saudi nationals, Abdullah Al Reshood and Hatem Al Dhahri, took over Khan and Siddiqui’s lease when the couple decided to move. During that time, Al Reshood received a $20,000 wire transfer from the Saudi government.
The money, a Saudi official later explained, was sent by the Saudi government to Al Reshood to pay for medical treatment for his wife. Siddiqui and her husband were by now being watched by the FBI for having used a debit card to buy night-vision goggles, body armour*, and military manuals from American websites, and for donating to charities the FBI watches closely.
When questioned, Khan told authorities he had purchased the military items for big-game hunting in Pakistan, saying goggles and armour weren’t available there.-- "The strange story of Aafia Siddiqui," By Khalid Hasan, Daily Times (Pakistan), (October 31, 2004), http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-11-2004_pg7_47
[* My note: You don't use armor to hunt animals- jeesh.]
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 or before : (SAIFULLAH PARACHA MEETS BIN LADEN - See BALTIMORE CELL) Prosecutors have claimed [Uzair] Paracha made statements that his father [Saifullah Paracha] met with Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11, 2001. ----- "Pakistani wins ruling in terror trial," ap NY on Yahoo, 11/07/05
OCTOBER 2001 : (FLEET BANK TIPS OFF THE FEDS TO SUSPICIOUS PURCHASES OF BODY ARMOR, NIGHT VISION GOGGLES AND MILITARY MANUALS MADE BY AAFIA SIDDIQUI AND HER ESTRANGED HUSBAND MOHAMMED AMJAD KHAN - See ABDULLAH AL RESHOOD, HETEM AL DHAHRI) Fleet [Bank] tipped off the government to the couple [Aafia Siddiqui and her now estranged husband Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan] in October 2001. Federal law prohibits bank officials from discussing such reports publicly.... Newsweek obtained ``suspicious-activity reports'' filed by Fleet Bank with the U.S. Treasury Department showing Siddiqui and her now estranged husband, Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan, made repeated purchases from stores selling military equipment.
They ordered from Black Hawk Industries in Chesapeake, Va., and Brigade Quartermasters in Georgia - companies whose inventories include parts for AK-47s and specialized combat equipment, including vests designed for bomb disposal. Khan, a Harvard-trained anesthesiologist, bought body armor, night-vision goggles and military manuals....
... Fleet also spotted [when?] suspicious money transfers totaling $20,000 from the Saudi government's armed forces account to a man who lived in the same Boston apartment as Siddiqui. His name is Abdullah Al Reshood and he has been questioned by the FBI, according to a source. Reshood wrote a $20,000 check to another Saudi, Hatem Al Dhahri, who then wired $17,193 back to an account in Saudi Arabia controlled by Reshood. Al Dhahri lived at the same address as Siddiqui, Fleet noted in its report.
The Newsweek report also highlighted the role of Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., in the transactions from Saudi Arabia. Riggs never filed any suspicious activity reports with the U.S. Treasury, prompting an investigation.
The Riggs accounts, according to Newsweek, showed a number of checks sent to flight schools and flight school students in the United States.
Riggs also paid out $19,200 from the Saudi embassy to Gulshair al-Shukrijumah, an imam who lives in Florida and once served as an interpreter for ``blind Sheik'' Omar Abdul Rahman, convicted in 1996 of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks.
A Saudi Embassy spokesman told Newsweek that the Saudis have cooperated with U.S. officials in their investigation. Senior U.S. law enforcement officials told Newsweek the investigation into the Saudi embassy's accounts is still active. -- "Report on Hub terror: Guerrillas in our midst: Fleet, FBI probe couple," By J.M. Lawrence, The Boston Herald, Friday, April 9, 2004, http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=483
***
When questioned, Khan told authorities he had purchased the military items for big-game hunting in Pakistan, saying goggles and armour weren’t available there.
[* You don't use armor to hunt animals- jeesh.]
Siddiqui, who was questioned only incidentally, was quickly released. Shortly after that, citing the difficulty of living as Muslims in the United States after 9/11, the couple returned to Pakistan. They stayed in Pakistan for a short time, then returned to the United States. They remained here until 2002, then moved back to Pakistan. -- "The strange story of Aafia Siddiqui," By Khalid Hasan, Daily Times (Pakistan), (October 31, 2004), http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-11-2004_pg7_47
NOVEMBER 2001 : (AFGHANISTAN : KSM ARRANGES FOR HAMBALI TO GO TO KARACHI, PAKISTAN - FROM THERE HE WOULD BE ABLE TO TRAVEL TO SRI LANKA AND ON TO THAILAND USING AN INDONESIAN PASSPORT WHERE THE 2002 BALI BOMBING WOULD BE PLANNED) One priority [of KSM's] was to get Hambali out of Afghanistan. In November 2001, Khalid arranged for him to go to Karachi. There he gave him $US20,000 and a false Indonesian passport with which he could travel to Sri Lanka and on to Thailand, from where he would help to organise the Bali nightclub bombing the following year. They kept in touch through Hambali's younger brother, who was in Karachi. --------- according to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, via "Al-Qa'ida 9/11 chief reveals US got off lightly," Sunday Times sources, The Australian, From The Sunday Times March 29, 2004
DECEMBER 21, 2001 : (DR. AAFIA SIDDIQUI & MOHAMMED AMJAD KHAN ACCOUNT TRANSFERS $8,000 TO PAKISTAN) In the report, Fleet also noted the couple's [DR. Aafia Siddiqui & Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan's] ``major purchases'' from airlines and hotels and an $8,000 international wire transfer on Dec. 21, 2001, to a major financial institution in Pakistan under U.S. watch as a source of terrorist transactions, the magazine reported. ...-- "Report on Hub terror: Guerrillas in our midst: Fleet, FBI probe couple," By J.M. Lawrence, The Boston Herald, Friday, April 9, 2004, http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=483
FEBRUARY 2002 : (PADILLA CASE : PAKISTAN : US CITIZEN PADILLA REPORTS HIS PASSPORT STOLEN) Padilla aka Muhajir walked into the U.S. consulate in Karachi, a lawless city of 14 million, where, according to sources in Pakistan, he reported his passport stolen and sought a replacement at a window reserved for American citizens. A new passport was issued the next month, but a suspicious consular official turned over the application to a security officer. "After the passport was issued . . . the consulate officer just felt there was something odd about the case and raised it to the attention of the regional security officer," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters yesterday. The security office investigated al Muhajir's activities in Pakistan, and shared the information with FBI agents and intelligence officers who have set up shop in the fortress-like Karachi consulate. - Washington Post, "Al Muhajir Alleged to Be Scouting Terror Sites
U.S. Says Al Qaeda Had Instructed Suspect," By Susan Schmidt and Walter Pincus, Wednesday, June 12, 2002; Page A01
MARCH 2002 : (PADILLA TRAVELS TO PAKISTAN, MEETINGS ON PLOTS TO ATTACK "GAS STATIONS" & HOTELS) At Abu Zubaydah's request, Padilla traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, in March to meet several senior al-Qaida officials and discuss bombings of U.S. gas stations and hotels, officials said. U.S. Nabs 'Dirty Bomb' Suspect, AP
***
In 2002, [Padilla] he and al-Qaida officials discussed the possibility of blowing up gas stations or hotels in a series of coordinated attacks on the United States, the memo states. Some of that information has been corroborated, the memo says, but some "confidential sources have not been completely candid. ... Some information provided by the sources remains uncorroborated and may be part of an effort to mislead or confuse U.S. officials The memo states that one of the sources recanted much of the information he provided and one source was being treated with "various types of drugs to treat medical conditions." ." Hobbs Memo, - AP, by Christopher Newton, 8/27/02 via NJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/740362/posts
2002 early (April or earlier) : (OHIO TRUCKER/BROOKLYN BRIDGE CASE : FARIS VISITS PAKISTAN & MEETS BIN LADEN'S NO. 3 MAN; THEY TELL HIM AL QAEDA WAS INTERESTED IN CARGO PLANES, PLANNING SIMULTANEOUS ATTACKS ON NY & DC, AND IN DERAILING TRAINS) Faris visited Karachi in early 2002 and was introduced to a man identified by his friend as the “number three man” to bin Laden - in fact, a senior operational leader in al Qaeda. ... at a meeting a few weeks later, the operational leader asked what he could do for al Qaeda. ....Faris... discussed his work as a truck driver in the United States, his trucking routes and deliveries for airport cargo planes. The al Qaeda leader told Faris he was interested in cargo planes because they would hold “more weight and more fuel.”
... the operational leader then told Faris that al Qaeda was planning two simultaneous attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. The senior al Qaeda leader spoke with Faris about destroying a bridge in New York City by severing its suspension cables, and tasked Faris with obtaining the equipment needed for that operation - described as “gas cutters” but to be referred to as “gas stations” in future coded communications. The leader also explained that al Qaeda was planning to derail trains, and asked Faris to procure the tools for that plot as well. - according to later admissions by Faris - "OHIO TRUCK DRIVER PLEADS GUILTY TO PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT TO AL QAEDA," Dept. of Justice press release, WWW.USDOJ.GOV , THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2003
APRIL 2002 (early ) : (PADILLA aka AL MUHAJIR LEAVES PAKISTAN FOR SWIZERLAND) At the behest of the al Qaeda terrorist network, al Muhajir, an American ex-convict, set off on a five-week journey - Washington Post, "Al Muhajir Alleged to Be Scouting Terror Sites U.S. Says Al Qaeda Had Instructed Suspect," By Susan Schmidt and Walter Pincus, Wednesday, June 12, 2002; Page A01 Mujahir leaves Pakistan in early April-and briefly went to Zurich, Switzerland. "More Questions in Dirty Bomb Case," by Ted Bridis, AP via Newsday via http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/698916/posts "We were fully aware of his movements from the time he left Pakistan," one Justice Department official said. Another official said: "We had eyes on him the entire time." - Washington Post, 'Dirty Bomb' Plot Uncovered, U.S. Says Suspected Al Qaeda Operative Held as 'Enemy Combatant,' By Dan Eggen and Susan Schmidt, Tuesday, June 11, 2002; Page A01
AUGUST 2002 : (PAKISTAN : SIDDIQUI & KHAN'S MARRIAGE FALTERS; FAMILY ARGUMENT CAUSES SIDDIQUI'S FATHER TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK) The tension between the couple had continued to grow and finally reached breaking point in August 2002. Siddiqui was eight months pregnant with their third child, and she and Khan were now estranged. She and the children stayed at her mother’s house, while Khan lived elsewhere in Karachi.
One day, Khan came over to Aafia’s parents’ house bearing a letter explaining that he was going to divorce Siddiqui. He started reading the letter, and a heated argument began between Khan and Siddiqui’s parents. The fight was too much for Siddiqui’s father who had a heart attack and died. Within weeks, Siddiqui gave birth to a son. Siddiqui stayed at her mother’s house for the rest of the year, returning to the United States without her children around December 2002 to look for a job in the Baltimore area, where her sister had begun working at Sinai Hospital. -- "The strange story of Aafia Siddiqui," By Khalid Hasan, Daily Times (Pakistan), (October 31, 2004), http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-11-2004_pg7_47
OCTOBER 8, 2002 : (KUWAIT : US MARINE KILLED, ANOTHER WOUNDED, KUWAIT DISCOVERS THE PERPS HAD AN INTEREST IN US TRAINS & CROSSINGS, WHICH JIVED WITH INFO FROM OTHER DETAINEES INTERROGATED BY THE US) An attack by two gunmen who killed one U.S. Marine and wounded another on a Kuwaiti island on Oct. 8. Kuwaiti authorities who afterward raided an al-Qaeda cell believed to be supporting the gunmen found a computer hard drive with photos of American passenger and cargo trains as well as rail crossings. At about the same time, senior al-Qaeda operatives in custody told their CIA and FBI interrogators that the organization had plans for targeting railroads. - "Terror on the Rails?," Time, Sunday, Oct 27, 2002, http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,384759,00.html.
DECEMBER 2002 : (SIDDIQUI RETURNS TO THE USA; HER SISTER HAD BEGUN WORKING AT SINAI HOSPITAL IN BALTIMORE, MD) Siddiqui stayed at her mother’s house for the rest of the year, returning to the United States without her children around December 2002 to look for a job in the Baltimore area, where her sister had begun working at Sinai Hospital. The real purpose of her trip, the FBI suspects, was to open a post office box for Majid Khan, a purported Al Qaeda operative who allegedly had plans to blow up gas stations and fuel tanks in the Baltimore-Washington area. -- "The strange story of Aafia Siddiqui," By Khalid Hasan, Daily Times (Pakistan), (October 31, 2004), http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-11-2004_pg7_47
DECEMBER 2002 or JANUARY 2003 : (SIDDIQUI IS IN MARYLAND, USA NEAR WASHINGTON, DC - See BALTIMORE CELL) - "Boston Woman accused of al-Qaida ties held in Pakistan," by CURT ANDERSON, AP, via News Observer, April 22 2003
DECEMBER 2002 or JANUARY 2003 : (GAITHERSBURG, MD : ) Dr [Aafia] Siddiqui, a resident of the Boston area, is said to have visited Gaithersburg, Maryland, in December last year [2002] or January, but the FBI would not say what significance that visit had and whom she met. ------- "Pakistani couple sought in Qaeda hunt," By Khalid Hasan, Daily Times [Pakistan] http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-3-2003_pg7_56
[Gaithersberg, I think, is where Beltway shooters Mohammed and Malvo holed up?]
DECEMBER 2002 & JANUARY 2003 : (SIGHTINGS OF SIDDIQUI ALONG THE EASTERN SEABOARD) Following up reports in December [2002] and January [2003] that placed her [Siddiqui] in Gaitherberg, Maryland, a suburb of Washington DC, authorities started looking for her on the eastern seaboard, according to Gary Bald, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore field office. She was tracked down to the home of her relatives in Karachi after being tailed from the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport where she was spotted on arrival from an overseas trip. Pakistani authorities were immediately directed to arrest her. Siddiqui was being interrogated at an undisclosed location, but intelligence sources said she is yet to be charged with any crime. "She's essentially in the hands of the FBI now," said the source, who refused to reveal if she has been flown out of Pakistan for interrogation. - "Pakistani woman may have planned logistics for Al Qaeda (captured)," by Aziz Haniffa, Rediff , April 1, 2003