A top member of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network bought 1,000 sets of radio equipment in Japan in 1995, some of which were used in a 1995 assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, according to a report Tuesday.
The man was in charge of procuring supplies for al-Qaeda, and the radio equipment purchased in Japan was shipped to Afghanistan, Kyodo News agency said, quoting sources close to the case.
Several of the wireless devices were allegedly found in a hideout used by people involved in the assassination bid, which took place while Mubarak was visiting Ethiopia in June 1995, they were quoted as saying.
The Public Security Bureau at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the shipment of radio equipment, the sources added.
According to information Japanese security authorities received from western investigators, the al-Qaeda member came to Japan sometime before June 1995, Kyodo said.
He is believed to have bought high-quality transceivers capable of transmitting signals for a distance of up to 20 kilometers in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district, it said.
The man was arrested in Germany in 1998 for allegedly being involved in the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and later extradited to the US in December that same year.
Authorities in the United States allege the man was in charge of finance in al-Qaeda and close to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Kyodo added. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
