By BRIAN BLOMQUISTand WILLIAM NEUMAN
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/32006.htm
October 17, 2001 -- Credit cards belonging to the suicide hijackers
continued to be used after the Sept. 11 attacks - indicating
associates of the terrorists remained in the United States weeks
after the kamikaze strikes, authorities said yesterday.
The most recent charge on one of the cards came two weeks ago - a
full three weeks after the terror strike - a law-enforcement official
told The Post.
"We have an occasional ping that the cards are still being used," the
official said, referring to alerts sent to investigators when there
is activity on a flagged account.
"We believe there are additional people out there. Many of the
closest associates got out of the country early on, but we also
believe there are a number of people here we're still looking at."
The official cautioned that associates of the hijackers, who used the
cards, may not have known details of the terror attacks beforehand
and may have merely played support roles in the network.
The hijackers had obtained more than 100 credit cards in their own
names, variations of their names or by using false identities, the
source said.
Several of the hijackers used credit cards to buy their tickets for
the fatal flights.
The terror plastic included the "full gamut" of credit card
companies, including Visa, Mastercard and American Express, the
official said, adding that the hijackers circulated the cards freely
among themselves and their associates.
It was not clear how many times the cards have been used since the
attacks, but the source said it's possible some of them may have been
stolen and used by people not tied to the terrorists.
The credit card transactions were recorded in Florida, New Jersey and
Maryland, states where the hijackers spent periods of time.
In some cases, the credit card use has helped investigators locate
and detain associates of the hijackers, the official said.
Meanwhile, French authorities began an investigation into the
activities of Zacarias Moussaoui, a French-Moroccan who was detained
in Minnesota in August and is now being probed in the terror attacks
on America.
Moussaoui raised suspicions when he went to a flight school and said
he wanted to learn to fly a plane but not to land.
Moussaoui has been suspected of terror connections in France since
1999 and investigators there hope to dig up ties between European
terror networks and the American hijackers.
In other developments:
* Yemeni officials froze the bank accounts of two honey stores
included on a U.S. list of terror-linked companies.
Yemen's central bank put a hold on the funds of Al-Nur Honey Press
and Al-Shifa Honey Press for Industry and Commerce pending an
investigation of the alleged terror ties.
The U.S. Treasury Department says Al-Nur is owned by Muhammad Hamdi
Sadiq al-Ahda, who was once imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for planning
terrorist activities. Al-Shifa is owned by Mahmud Abu al-Fatuh
Muhammad, who the United States claims is linked to bin Laden
activities in Italy.
* Authorities overseas gave new details of suspected bomb plots
derailed in recent weeks.
Turkish police officials said they arrested a group plotting to blow
up the American consulate in Istanbul.
Officials in Jordan said Jordanian and Lebanese investigators had
acted last weekend to thwart a plan to attack the American and
British embassies in Lebanon.
American officials had said previously that four overseas terror
attacks have been derailed since the Sept. 11 hijackings, including
planned strikes in France, Belgium, Turkey and Yemen.
* Canadian authorities were questioning passengers on an Air Canada
flight from Toronto that was grounded the day of the terror attacks
and never took off.
Two box cutters like those used by some of the hijackers were found
in the plane before its next flight.
With Post Wire Services
THE END
==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrHhl.bVKZIr Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
