Posted on 06/25/2002 11:23:17 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- The man suspected of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks lived lavishly in the Philippines with his nephew, the 1993 World Trade Center plotter, partying, scuba-diving and renting a helicopter as they planned attacks against Americans, according to a former police official who investigated al-Qaida.
U.S. counterterrorism officials have said that since Sept. 11, evidence has mounted that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was chief among Osama bin Laden lieutenants organizing the plot that sent hijacked passenger jets crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing more than 3,000 people.
Abu Zubaydah -- a senior al-Qaida member who is now in U.S. custody -- has apparently identified Mohammed as the organizer, and investigators have learned he transferred money that was subsequently used in the attacks.
Mohammed, the FBI's most wanted terrorist after bin Laden, reportedly lived in the Philippines in 1994-95 with his nephew, Ramzi Yousef, said Rodolfo Mendoza, a northern Philippine police official who once supervised operations against suspected al-Qaida agents in the country.
Yousef was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
"Many of the things (Mohammed) is suspected of plotting may have been planned" in the Philippines, Mendoza said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Mohammed, 37, has not been charged in the Sept. 11 attacks, but he has been charged in a 1995 plot to bomb or hijack 11 U.S.-bound flights originating in Asian countries, including the Philippines. U.S. officials say he also allegedly worked with Yousef on the initial World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
Using the aliases Abdul Majid and Salem Ali, Mohammed arrived in the Philippines in early 1994 and stayed mostly in Yousef's Manila apartment.
In December 1994, Mohammed and Yousef went to Puerto Galera, a beach resort south of Manila, to take a weeklong scuba diving course, Mohammed said.
Yousef's Filipino girlfriend told police she had met Mohammed, who portrayed himself as a rich businessman from Qatar. One meeting took place in a five-star hotel in Makati, Manila's financial district, Mendoza recalled. Mohammed and his companions also frequented nightclubs and hotel bars in Manila, Mendoza said.
The uncle and nephew even rented a helicopter to impress a dentist Mohammed was courting.
The woman challenged Mohammed, who flew the helicopter himself, "to rent an aircraft and fly over (her clinic) while talking with the lady dentist through his mobile phone and waving," Mendoza said.
The U.S. government is offering up to $25 million for information leading to Mohammed's arrest. He is believed to be hiding somewhere in Afghanistan.
Much of the information on Mohammed's past activities in the Philippines was revealed in a series of interrogations with Abdul Hakim al Hashim Murad, a Pakistani arrested in Manila in 1995 for allegedly plotting to kill Pope John Paul II and conspiring in the plot to hijack or bomb U.S.-bound airliners.
Mohammed appeared to have supervised the planning for those two attacks, which would have been carried out by Yousef, Murad and several companions had the plots not been discovered.
"He was organizing things, the others were operatives," Mendoza said of Mohammed.
A confidential Philippine police report prepared by Mendoza said Mohammed, Yousef, Murad and Osama Asmurai, an al-Qaida agent also known as Wali Khan Amin Shah, coordinated with al-Qaida's support networks in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia while planning the plot to down airliners.
Mohammed had traveled to Israel and the United States, according to the report.
Police arrested Murad in 1995 when he returned to retrieve belongings from a rented Manila apartment, which he and Yousef abandoned hours earlier after a small explosion from chemical bomb ingredients sent smoke billowing out the window.
One of the most important items found in Yousef's room was a laptop computer, which contained details on the plot and information on al-Qaida figures, including a picture of Mohammed, Mendoza said.
After Murad's arrest, Yousef fled to Pakistan, where he was later arrested and then handed over to U.S. custody. Mohammed fled the Philippines for an unknown destination.
Murad told interrogators that he first met Mohammed in July 1993 at Mohammed's house in Karachi, Pakistan, which he and Yousef visited. In that and succeeding meetings, their conversations focused mainly on aircraft because of Mohammed's intense interest in pilot training, Mendoza quoted Murad as saying.
A joke indeed - nothing but idle threats. These guys were living the high life while they were plotting our demise.
Judging from the information they are getting from Zubaydah and the reports of the soon-to-be-released bin laden tape, I'd wager a guess that he's also been busy plotting the next wave.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.