http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...8p-61447c.html
27M to bag terrorist
By DAVE GOLDINER in New York
and JAMES GORDON MEEK in Washington
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, March 10th, 2003
A captured Egyptian radical ratted out terror kingpin Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - but only after squeezing $27 million in reward money from American investigators, it was reported yesterday.
The unnamed radical agreed to tell his captors where to find Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's lieutenant after he was arrested in a Feb. 14 raid on a safehouse in Quetta, Pakistan, Newsweek magazine reports in its current edition.
But the Egyptian, identified only as an Al Qaeda foot soldier, was not satisfied with the $25million bounty on Mohammed's head. He demanded - and got - $2 million more to cover the costs of relocating his family to Britain.
"He turned over and made a deal with the United States," a Mideast intelligence agent said.
American law enforcement sources confirmed to the magazine that the reward was paid, but refused to discuss details.
The new revelations offered a fascinating peek into the high- stakes global cat-and-mouse game between the U.S. and fugitive Al Qaeda leaders.
American and Pakistani commandos raided the safehouse in the dusty frontier town of Quetta after getting a tip that Mohammed, architect of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, might be there.
The strike force missed the terror group's operations chief, but nabbed Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman, the son of the blind Egyptian cleric who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York landmarks.
They also caught the Egyptian who decided to trade a grimy jail cell for a luxury life in exile.
The tip led to a feverish effort to capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was holed up in the city of Rawalpindi along with a suspected Al Qaeda financier.
The March 1 capture of Mohammed sparked a new push to flush out Bin Laden in Pakistan's rugged border region, which continued over the weekend with more sorties in the barren hills.
Contact with Bin Laden
Mohammed is believed to have had recent contact in Pakistan with Bin Laden, and U.S. investigators hope he will lead them to his boss.
"It continues to be our view that he's somewhere near the Afghan-Pakistan border in the northwest frontier," a U.S. official told the Daily News.
A former Taliban diplomat told Reuters that the world's most wanted man was in the southern Afghan province of Nimroz just days ago. Naseer Ahmed Roohi, a diplomat in the former Afghan government, said "reliable sources" told him that Bin Laden had been in the Siakoh mountain range.
A spokeswoman at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan confirmed yesterday that seven men were picked up in the town of Spin Majid on Friday but denied American troops are close to capturing Bin Laden.
"They attempt to find out information not only on [Bin Laden], but on any terrorists," said Maj. Mary Swan.
Anti-terror officials believe the arrest of Mohammed has cut Al Qaeda's capacity to launch attacks by about half, Time magazine reports.
But authorities still believe terrorists could be considering potential targets in New York, especially the Brooklyn Bridge.
27M to bag terrorist
By DAVE GOLDINER in New York
and JAMES GORDON MEEK in Washington
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, March 10th, 2003
A captured Egyptian radical ratted out terror kingpin Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - but only after squeezing $27 million in reward money from American investigators, it was reported yesterday.
The unnamed radical agreed to tell his captors where to find Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's lieutenant after he was arrested in a Feb. 14 raid on a safehouse in Quetta, Pakistan, Newsweek magazine reports in its current edition.
But the Egyptian, identified only as an Al Qaeda foot soldier, was not satisfied with the $25million bounty on Mohammed's head. He demanded - and got - $2 million more to cover the costs of relocating his family to Britain.
"He turned over and made a deal with the United States," a Mideast intelligence agent said.
American law enforcement sources confirmed to the magazine that the reward was paid, but refused to discuss details.
The new revelations offered a fascinating peek into the high- stakes global cat-and-mouse game between the U.S. and fugitive Al Qaeda leaders.
American and Pakistani commandos raided the safehouse in the dusty frontier town of Quetta after getting a tip that Mohammed, architect of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, might be there.
The strike force missed the terror group's operations chief, but nabbed Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman, the son of the blind Egyptian cleric who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York landmarks.
They also caught the Egyptian who decided to trade a grimy jail cell for a luxury life in exile.
The tip led to a feverish effort to capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was holed up in the city of Rawalpindi along with a suspected Al Qaeda financier.
The March 1 capture of Mohammed sparked a new push to flush out Bin Laden in Pakistan's rugged border region, which continued over the weekend with more sorties in the barren hills.
Contact with Bin Laden
Mohammed is believed to have had recent contact in Pakistan with Bin Laden, and U.S. investigators hope he will lead them to his boss.
"It continues to be our view that he's somewhere near the Afghan-Pakistan border in the northwest frontier," a U.S. official told the Daily News.
A former Taliban diplomat told Reuters that the world's most wanted man was in the southern Afghan province of Nimroz just days ago. Naseer Ahmed Roohi, a diplomat in the former Afghan government, said "reliable sources" told him that Bin Laden had been in the Siakoh mountain range.
A spokeswoman at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan confirmed yesterday that seven men were picked up in the town of Spin Majid on Friday but denied American troops are close to capturing Bin Laden.
"They attempt to find out information not only on [Bin Laden], but on any terrorists," said Maj. Mary Swan.
Anti-terror officials believe the arrest of Mohammed has cut Al Qaeda's capacity to launch attacks by about half, Time magazine reports.
But authorities still believe terrorists could be considering potential targets in New York, especially the Brooklyn Bridge.
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