Newsweek: Egyptian Busted in Al Qaeda Safehouse Dropped Dime on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

Newsweek: Radical Egyptian Arrested in Raid of Al Qaeda Safehouse Made Deal With U.S., Cashed in on $25 Million Bounty for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Sunday March 9, 10:41 am ET

NEW YORK, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- A radical Egyptian arrested in the raid of an Al Qaeda safehouse in the Pakistani border town of Quetta decided to cash in on the $25 million bounty on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's head, Newsweek reports in the current issue. "He turned over and made a deal with the United States," a Middle Eastern intelligence official tells Newsweek. The Egyptian offered to dime out Mohammed, but demanded an additional $2 million to relocate to Britain with his family. A law-enforcement official told Newsweek that the U.S. agreed to pay the reward to an unidentified informant, but wouldn't discuss details, report Investigative Correspondents Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball in the March 17 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 10).

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030309/NYSU009 )
Mohammed's capture was the result of months of intelligence surveillance by U.S. and Pakistani intelligence. Five weeks ago, agents were tipped off to the safehouse in Quetta. Mohammed had already escaped when they got there. But they did capture a lesser Qaeda soldier: Muhammad Abdel-Rahman, a son of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted of plotting to blow up the United Nations and other New York landmarks. The man who collected the bounty money was another radical Egyptian arrested in the raid.
After Mohammed's capture, sources tell Newsweek that he was quickly flown to Baghram air base in Afghanistan, where he is now under intense interrogation. A senior law-enforcement official says Mohammed has given up virtually nothing. "It was standard counterinterrogation. He tells you what you think you already know, and tries to deflect questions about anything you don't know," the official says. "I'm not really sanguine about what we're going to get out of this guy."
An Arab intelligence official says that the questioning is likely being conducted by foreign agents under U.S. supervision. Evidence found in Mohammed's hideaway suggested that he and bin Laden may have been in recent contact. U.S. officials caution against putting too much emphasis on bin Laden's capture. "The movement doesn't depend on bin Laden's survival," says one FBI official. U.S. authorities fear that in the absence of a clear leader, dozens of smaller, unknown terrorist cells now held in check by bin Laden may strike out on their own, Newsweek reports.

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