The Australian
The Australian
China paid bin Laden US$10m: Report
>From AFP
20oct01
LONDON: China paid suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden several
million dollars for access to unexploded US cruise missiles following an
attack on his bases three years ago, according to a newspaper report here.
The Guardian reported that an alleged senior agent of bin Laden's al Qaeda
network in Europe told an associate, in a secretly taped conversation, that
Chinese businessmen had paid $US10 million ($A19.69 million) to study the
missiles.
Bin Laden is the prime suspect for the September 11 terrorist assault on New
York and Washington which claimed the lives of some 5,500 people.
Following the 1998 attack, carried out in reprisal for the bombings of the
US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, reports suggesting China had acquired
two unexploded Tomahawk missiles were attacked as "groundless" by Beijing,
the broadsheet said.
The Guardian report came the day after US President George W Bush, in a
joint press conference with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, welcomed the
Asian nation's "firm commitment" to the war on terrorism, although Beijing
has yet to explicitly endorse the US-led campaign.
The daily said that on March 9, a 32-year-old Libyan terrorist suspect met
the head of al Qaeda's Italian cell, Sami Ben Khemais, in a Milan flat and
told him of China's involvement in the missiles.
The suspect, who was arrested in Munich on Wednesday at the request of the
Italian authorities in connection with al Qaeda, told Ben Khemais: "With
these weapons, he (bin Laden) has boosted his financial resources. From
every part of the world businessmen who hate Americans have come to study
American missile strategy.
"In particular, businessmen have come from China. He works a great deal with
China. He's got good relations with them," added the suspect, named Ben Heni
by the paper.
The Guardian said that unknown to the two men, the flat had been bugged by
Italian anti-terrorist officers.
