home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The Unsorted BBS Collection
/
thegreatunsorted.tar
/
thegreatunsorted
/
texts
/
txtfiles_misc
/
news118
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-04-17
|
3KB
|
53 lines
03/12/1993
NEW YORK (AP) -- The FBI is trying to pinpoint the source of
thousands of dollars in overseas wire transfers that are believed to
have paid for the bombing of the World Trade Center, a federal
investigator says.
Bank records in New Jersey show that money was transferred from
Europe into an account held jointly by the two Palestinian bombing
suspects under arrest, the investigator said Thursday, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
"We speculate that the money was used for the bombing, possible
escape, safe houses and other terrorist activities," the
investigator said. "Our main thrust is where the money came from."
The source would not say where in Europe the transfers
originated, but The New York Times, citing unidentified sources,
reported today that $8,000 wired to the account of Mohammed Salameh
and Nidal Ayyad has been traced to Germany.
Investigators told the Times, however, that they were unsure
where in Germany the money came from and whether it was meant to
underwrite the bombing.
Thomas Rindsfuesser, a spokesman for the German Federal Criminal
Office, said today that his investigative agency had "absolutely no
comment."
Germany has one of the largest Muslim communities in Europe and
has been a base of operations for Middle Eastern terrorist
organizations.
Finding the source of the money would help investigators
determine a motive in the Feb. 26 bombing that killed at least five
people and injured more than 1,000. The bomb went off in a garage
underneath the twin 110-story towers.
While the federal investigator would not disclose how much money
had been transferred into the account, he said there were probably
several deposits of under $10,000. Deposits of that size would avoid
federal laws requiring the reporting of cash transactions of $10,000
or more.
Salameh, 25, is an illegal alien from Jordan who was arrested
March 4 in Jersey City, N.J., where he was living. Ayyad, 25, a
Palestinian-American chemical engineer, was arrested Wednesday at
his home in Maplewood, N.J.
Both are charged with aiding in the bombing. Salameh is alleged
to have rented the van that held the bomb. Ayyad's alleged role has
not been disclosed, but investigators said he has the know-how to
mix explosives.
Ayyad and Salameh share an account at a Jersey City branch of
National Westminster Bank, and the transfers went into that account,
investigators said.
Other links between the two men include attending services at the
same mosque in Jersey City. And both Salameh and Ayyad have been
close to El Sayyid Nosair, who was acquitted of murder in the 1990
assassination of the anti-Arab extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane but is in
Attica state prison on related charges.
Investigators said Thursday they doubt Nosair played a role in
the bombing but was a "martyr or hero" for the suspects.