WASHINGTON, 4 September — US, European and Pakistani financial investigators believe the Al-Qaeda fighters and the Taleban have smuggled large quantities of gold from Pakistan to Sudan in recent weeks, according to an article in yesterday’s Washington Post. Sources told the Post that “several shipments of gold, usually disguised as other products, were taken by small boats from the Pakistani port of Karachi to either Iran or Dubai, and from there mixed with other goods and flown by chartered airplanes to Khartoum.”
The sources believe Sudan was chosen because Osama Bin Laden, and other members of Al-Qaeda, have retained business contacts there. Bin Laden lived in Sudan from 1991 to 1996, when he was forced out of the country and moved to Afghanistan. While in Sudan, Bin Laden operated a large construction company, helped establish a bank, built an airport at Port Sudan, and paved roads throughout the country.
Questions remain as to whether the Sudanese government is vetting these transfers. Recently, the United States commended Sudan for its cooperation and help regarding the global war on terrorism. According to the Post, European and US sources said they became aware of the shipments after they occurred, and have asked the Sudanese government to do what is necessary to stop the shipments.
“Sudan is not going to allow anything like this to come in knowingly,” a spokesman at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington said. “We are concerned about terrorism. We are on a high level of alert since Sept. 11.” Alarm bells apparently went off when Pakistani intelligence received several reports, the Post writes, “indicating that Al-Qaeda and the Taleban were sending large amounts of gold out of Karachi after selling stashes of stored heroin and opium to drug traffickers in Central Asia.”
“A large portfolio of ostensibly legitimate businesses continue to be maintained and managed on behalf of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda by a number of, as yet, unidentified intermediaries and associates across North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia,” the report said. “Estimates put the value of this portfolio at around $30 million.”
