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Al Qaeda financier among six
arrested in Pakistan
May 02, 2003 11:13 IST
The six Al Qaeda members arrested by the Pakistani police in Karachi on Tuesday included Ali Abd al-Aziz, an Al Qaeda financier.
Ali Abd al-Aziz had financed the terrorists in the September 11 attacks, media report said.
Aziz, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, had funnelled nearly $ 120,000 to ringleader Mohammed Atta and other September 11 terrorists to finance their flight lessons and living expenses in the US, Time magazine reported quoting FBI and US intelligence officials.
Aziz, using the alias Isam Mansur, wired $ 5000 via Western Union from the United Arab Republic to hijacker Marwan
al-Shehhi in New York City on June 29, 2000, the report said.
Between July 18 and September 18, 2000, Aziz, using the Mansur alias or calling himself 'Mr Ali' or 'Hani' of 'Fawaz Trading', wired another $ 109,500 from the UAE Exchange Centre in Dubai to an account at Sun Trust Bank held jointly by Al Shehhi and Mohammed Atta, while both men were attending Huffman Aviation school in Venice, Florida, the report said.
Atta, who conceived the hijacking-attack scheme while living in Hamburg, Germany, flew American Flight 11 into the
north tower of the World Trade Center. Al-Shehhi, a member of Atta's Hamburg Al Qaeda cell, crashed United Flight 175 into the World Trade Center's south tower.
Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar spearheaded the hijacking of American Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.
According to US intelligence reports, Aziz travelled with his uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda's chief operating officer, until Mohammed was arrested in Rawalpindi on March 1 and placed in CIA custody.
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