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Check this out - same day, same country :

DECEMBER 16, 2009 WED : (MUTALLAB TRAVELS TO ETHIOPIA AND THEN GHANA WHERE THE RETURN TICKET FOR HIS TRIP TO DETROIT IS PURCHASED- BUT THE RETURN DESTINATION IS CHANGED FROM ACCRA IN GHANA TO LAGOS IN NIGERIA) He travelled to Ethiopia and then Ghana. The return ticket for his trip to Detroit, via Amsterdam, was bought at KLM’s office in Accra on December 16 for $2,831 (£1,770). Unusually for a potential suicide bomber, he took the trouble to change his return destination, replacing Ghana with Lagos. He arrived in Nigeria on Christmas Eve. .------------ "Abdulmutallab's bomb plans began with classroom defence of 9/11," Times Online ^ | 12/27/2009 | Dominic Kennedy

DECEMBER 16, 2009 WED : (GHANA : US DEA DRUG STING NABS AL QAEDA OPERATIVES OUMAR ISSA, HAROUNA TOURE' AND IDRISS ABELRAHMAN; THEY ARE SHIPPED TO NY-----THE DRUG SMUGGLING WAS INTENDED TO SUPPORT AL QAEDA, AL QAEDA IN THE MAGHREB & FARC ) Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organization has become increasingly reliant on organized crime, including cocaine smuggling, human trafficking and kidnapping, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in Manhattan's federal court. The charges filed against three alleged al-Qaeda associates by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan is the latest chilling evidence of a convergence between terrorism and organized crime.
Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman were snatched in Ghana on Wednesday by a Drug Enforcement Administration sting and shipped to New York, where they arrived on Friday to face charges of conspiracy to commit acts of narco-terrorism and providing material support to al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization. The arrests mark the first time that al-Qaeda associates have been charged with narco-terrorism offenses.
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"It's pretty compelling evidence, but not the only evidence that has been growing that al-Qaeda and its affiliates are becoming more and more involved in the global drug trade to help fund their operations," says Michael Braun, former chief of operations at the DEA and a founder of Spectre Group International. "They have to pay for their operations somehow." (Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...-------Al-Qaeda's New Business Model: Cocaine And Human Trafficking Forbes Magazine ^ | 12/18/09 | Nathan Vardi Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:56:37 AM by AtlasStalled