Bin Laden's men 'tried to buy 727 before US attacks'

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Bin Laden's men 'tried to buy 727 before US attacks'

Osama bin Laden's henchmen allegedly tried to buy a multi-million dollar Boeing 727 six months before the US terror attacks.

It is claimed a suspected terrorist with connections to bin Laden tried to set up a deal to buy disused aircraft in the US.

The New York Post says an FBI source told it they got a broker to represent them in the deal and looked at several mothballed aircraft for sale at airports.

Bin Laden is the chief suspect for the terror attacks in New York and Washington.

"Someone connected to Osama bin Laden was looking to buy a retired aircraft sometime in March," a federal investigator told the Post. "He was also trying to recruit Americans to buy it for him, to act as a front.

"They got at least as far as kicking tyres (in used-airplane lots) in Denver and Tucson."

The suspected terrorists found a broker in Fort Lauderdale who tried to represent them in the deal. A used Boeing 727 can be bought for between $1 and $8 million (about £680,000 and £5.4 million) depending on its condition.

The source declined to name bin Laden's representatives or the dealers involved.

The information, described as "not specific enough" to have thwarted the September 11 attacks, was passed to the FBI at the time and the agency is looking into the matter, sources say.

Another view taken by terrorist experts is that buying or leasing a jet could sidestep airport security. It also shows whoever backed the terrorists had access to millions of dollars.

Story filed: 15:30 Wednesday 26th September 2001

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_408582.html?menu=news.latestheadlines

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 26, 2001


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