Posted on 05/08/2003 9:52:03 AM PDT by areafiftyone
ROME, May 8 Investigators analyzing computers seized from an Italian mosque say they have uncovered images of the twin towers that were downloaded just days before the 9/11 attacks, as well as a trove of pornographic photos they believe were used to conceal coded messages.
On Sept. 4, 2001, according to investigators, pictures of the World Trade Center were saved as temporary files on one of the computers at the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan the mosque frequented by Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, also known as Abu Saleh, an Egyptian currently on trial in absentia in Milan on charges of international terrorism.
Court documents from the ongoing Milan trial, cited by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, say that police discovered images of the World Trade Center along with numerous files that contained images downloaded from the Internet of political leaders such as President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as well as large quantities of pornographic material, also taken from the Internet.
The images, investigators said, had been manipulated their colors modified before being sent back onto the Web.
Police believe this was one of the ways that al Qaeda cell members communicated, encoding, in many instances, pornographic images that were were traded back and forth, an investigative source confirmed.
The practice is known as steganography. Read a Brian Ross report to find out more.
Police confiscated 11 computers from the Via Quaranta mosque in November 2001, according to court documents, after issuing an arrest warrant for its founder, Es Sayed, during an investigation into an Islamic terrorist cell headquartered in Milan that provided logistical support to the al Qaeda network.
Several key members of the cell have been convicted in the Italian courts, and five others are on trial in Milan, charged with association to international terrorist groups, falsification of documents and aiding illegal immigration.
Milan prosecutors believe that Es Sayed was an al Qaeda lieutenant sent to Italy to recruit new members to send to the terrorist network.
During an investigation that lasted more than two years, police recorded conversations between Es Sayed and a Yemeni man who referred to "studying airplanes."
During one wiretapped conversation in August of 2000, the Yemeni tells Es Sayed that "God willing, I hope that I can bring you a window or piece of airplane the next time we meet."
Italian investigators have never determined a direct link between the Milan cell and the Sept. 11 attacks, but the images of the twin towers that investigators say the discovered on the computer hard drive suggest that perhaps at least one of the Milan cell members had knowledge of the attacks before they occurred.
The digital evidence is still being analyzed.
Police say they found material that they describe as "interesting" on several of the confiscated computers. The hard drives of all the computers had all been erased but were reconstructed in part by computer experts collaborating with the Milan courts, the investigative source said.
In conversations recorded during more than two years of investigation, cell members often referred to computers and Web sites, and made frequent use of Internet cafes to exchange information, the source confirmed.
Although the investigators were able to determine how the images were manipulated, they have not yet been able to decode the messages that might have been conveyed by those manipulations.
According to a report in the Corriere della Sera, the Italian investigators have asked for help from experts in the United States.
FEBRUARY 2001 : (MILAN CELL, SALEH CONVERSATION ABOUT FAILURE TO GET TERRORISTS INTO US) Abu Saleh had a conversation with a man who answered Abdulrahman's telephone in Yemen. "I have heard you are getting into America," Abu Saleh is heard to say. "I'm sorry," replied the voice on the other end, "but we did not manage to get in ... ." "How come, man?" Abu Saleh asked. "This is our goal," the voice replied, "and we have no greater desire. ... We hope and wish to enter clandestinely by land. ... ." Within days of that conversation, however, the electronic and physical surveillance of Abu Saleh was discontinued. One investigator explained that, under the Italian laws, it was necessary to either stop the surveillance after one year or to notify Abu Saleh that he was the target of an anti-terrorism investigation. Fearing that any notification would imperil a concurrent investigation of one of Abu Saleh's alleged lieutenants, the police simply turned off the microphones in Abu Saleh's house and automobile. After Sept. 11, 2001, the law was changed to extend the prenotification period to two years. - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002
FOX NEWS.com (AP): "STUDY: NEW 9/11-STYLE ATTACK LIKELY" ARTICLE SNIPPET: "LONDON - Another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack is "highly likely" in the United States, which ranks fourth in an index assessing the risk to 186 countries, a research company said Sunday.") (August 17, 2003) (Read More...)
An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding a REUTERS article: "CANADA ARRESTS 19 IN CASE WITH SEPT. 11TH PARALLELS" (August 22, 2003) (Read More...)
yes, but it old technology. U.S. hackers and anarchists were doing this as far back as 1990 that I am aware of. They would put files on phreaking and such on bulletion boards, and the highly illegal stuff was imbeded in GIF and AVI files. You could open them up with a text editor and find strings of information for hacking into TRW and such.
Hidden in plain sight, while the feds were having hissy fits over public use of PGP.
SoBig So Fast! Be on the Lookout
Islam Online, UK - 3 hours ago
... worm affects only Windows computers, not Macintosh, Linux, or Unix systems. Like
its siblings, SoBig.F has a built-in termination date, September 10, 2003, and ...
New email worm Sobig on the loose
Shepparton News, Australia - Aug 20, 2003
"Sobig sends ... The worm will stop spreading on 10th of September 2003. From this
date onwards the worm will exit immediately when executed.". ...
Micro World warns against SobigF worm
Economic Times, India - Aug 22, 2003
... said. This new variant of the worm I-Worm Sobig that appeared last year
would be active till September 10, 2003, it said. The subject ...
Worm/Sobig.F May Establish A Trojan Cyber Army For Possible ...
Help Net Security, Croatia - Aug 21, 2003
Worm/Sobig.F de-activates spreading on September 10, 2003, next possible
Sobig variant expected on or near September 11, 2003. MEDINA ...
Tips to Help Fast Spreading Virus From Infecting Your PC
ABC News - Aug 22, 2003
... The way the Sobig.F worm distributes itself makes it hard to trace ... The worm also has
a built-in shutoff date. It'll stop working on September 10, 2003 ...
Canada NewsWire summary of releases for Friday Evening, August 22 ...
Canada NewsWire (press release), Canada - Aug 22, 2003
... Protect Their Computers From Viruses And Worms (MSFT-virus-worm ... UK : Anti virus fails
us yet again - this time with Sobig ... (GFD) on September 22, 2003 ...
Fast-spreading SoBig.F may harbor a dangerous Trojan
Tech Republic, KY - Aug 22, 2003
The SoBig.F worm has continued to ... 22, 2003, beginning precisely at 19:00:00 ... the hidden
encrypted code planted by SoBig ... but sets the activation date as September ...
Central Command Warns of New Sobig Attack
Web Host Industry Review - Aug 22, 2003
... a provider of anti-virus software and services, cautioned users today of the next
possible Sobig cyber attack on or about September 11, 2003. The Sobig.F worm ...
Sobig . F adds to worst ever ' worm week
ITWeb, South Africa - Aug 21, 2003
... Johannesburg, 20 August 2003 ... The result is that hundreds of thousands of copies of
the Sobig ... Myroff says the worm is programmed to stop working on 10 September ...
You would be sad too, if your husband was out cheating with a donkey.
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