FBI, Germans Hunt Three Suspects
W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 23, 2001 -- The nation's top lawman says the FBI has extra agents on the ground in Germany as part of an international manhunt for three men suspected of conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers.
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Attorney General John Ashcroft said a dozen agents have been dispatched to Germany, where the three fugitives and three hijackers are believed to have lived together in Hamburg and plotted attacks since at least 1999.
"It is clear that Hamburg served as a central base of operations for these six individuals andtheir part in the planning of the September 11 attacks," Ashcroft said today at a news conference with Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily.
German officials have issued arrest warrants for Zakariya Essabar, Said Bahaji, Ramzi Binalshibh, all believed to have been part of the Hamburg terrorist cell that was headed up by Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta.
Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, also a member of the Hamburg cell, are believed to have piloted jets into the World Trade Center towers. Another, Ziad Jarrah, was a hijacker on the plane that crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside.
"Bahaji, Binalshibh and Essabar are sought for planning and carrying out the attacks," Ashcroft said. "Their connections to the hijackers are extensive."
The FBI agents join hundreds of German police in the hunt for three suspects, all of whom appear to have left Germany.
The Suspects
Zakariya Essabar• Moroccan citizen• Age, 24• Made arrangements to travel to Florida in February• Last known to be in Germany on Sept. 6
Said Bahaji
• German citizen• Age, 26 • Studied at Hamburg Technical University with Atta• Left Germany on Sept. 3
Ramzi Binalshibh• Yemeni citizen• Age, 29• Left Germany on Sept. 5• Hijacker Jarrah tried to enroll him in a Venice, Fla. flight school
"We're going to have to balance our desire for ease of movement of money — and, in fact, people — against our need to make sure that globalization doesn't become turned into a weapon against us," he said.
Treasury Undersecretary Jim Gurule told the bankers 144 nations have answered the U.S. call to freeze terrorist assets.
Bin Laden Money Elusive
A Treasury official tells ABCNEWS that not a penny of that money is directly linked to Osama bin Laden, the suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks who is the target of a U.S. military operation in Afghanistan. While entities affiliated with bin Laden have been frozen, officials have been unable to find his cash — which they believe he holds in cash.
The intense global effort to hunt down bin Laden's al Qaeda network has given investigators a far clearer — and more disturbing — picture of his sophistication and strength.
They have found al Qaeda's financial resources "are far greater than we previously thought," the official said. The money bin Laden raised for fighters in Chechnya, Kosovo, and Bosnia alone is believed to run into the tens of millions of dollars.
"We are also concerned with his financial sophistication," the official said. "He seems to know when to send cash, or wire money or send it in a jar of honey."
While bin Laden is believed to have a personal fortune as high as $30 million, investigators say they believe he uses little of his own cash. But he has skillfully raised money from other wealthy Arabs to fund his network.
"Most of his money was extorted," the Treasury official said. "For example, if the United Arab Emirates gives him $10 million, hypothetically, then bin Laden will not operate acts of terror in the UAE."
Some of his money also is believed to have been funnelled from charities in the United States and in Europe — particularly London.
These vast sums of money have proved hard to trace, as the cash pours into and out of Afghanistan in bags, the official said.
Brian Hartman and Eric Avram contributed to this report.