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As
the war in Afghanistan enters the
final phase in search of Osama bin
Laden, western intelligence is
reported to have identified 23
merchant vessels believed to be
linked to the most wanted man who is
said to be behind the 11 September
2001 terrorist attack on the US.
US
NAVAL forces are actively tracking
merchant vessels believed to be
carrying cargoes on behalf of Osama
bin Laden, including raw material
for weapons of mass destruction.
The
authorities are now considering the
technical and legal aspects of
either intercepting the ships at
sea, or arrest the vessels at ports
all over the world.
According
to leading shipping daily, Lloyd’s
List, work on tracking down the
shipping interests of the al-Qa’eda
terrorist network has been
spearheaded by the secret services
of a northern European member of
Nato with extensive shipping
interests.
Several
vessels have been boarded since
November, and another 200 have been
contacted either by radio or by
other signal and asked to identify
themselves and their cargoes.
Some
of the vessels, which are of various
types, are thought to be owned
outright by bin Laden business
interests, while others are on
long-term time charter. Most are
with flags of convenience.
The
newspaper reported that a
businessman with links to Turkey,
believed to be backed by German
finance, is suspected as one of the
masterminds behind the shipping
operations of the al Qa’eda
terrorist network.
Associates
of Osama bin Laden have built up a
fleet of around two dozen ships in
recent years, primarily to
facilitate the smuggling of high
quality heroin and hashish from
Afghanistan to the West.
The
suspect is thought to have close
connections with the Islamic states
that have emerged from the former
Soviet Union.
His
ships are thought to be flagged in
Arab countries.
“The
hunt for al-Qa’eda ships is part
of a worldwide clampdown on
terrorist funds,” the London daily
added.
Bank
accounts suspected of being used by
outlawed terrorist organisations
have now been frozen in 130
countries. So far £43.1m ($60.7m)
has been blocked since the September
11.
Bin
Laden’s al-Qa’eda terrorists are
understood to control up to 80 front
companies in 50 countries worldwide.
It has been widely reported that
these include shipping concerns.
However, it is only now that the
ships involved have been explicitly
identified.
Two
weeks ago, a Singapore-flagged
container ship was stopped and
searched by US forces for more than
four hours after it left Karachi.
Two crewmen were reported injured in
the operation carried out in the mid
sea.
According
to an earlier advisory bulletin
issued by US, any hostility towards
inspection would result in the
commercial vessels in question
simply being destroyed.
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