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CNN Live Today
Look at How Far Bin Laden's Terrorist Network Reaches
Aired July 19, 2002 - 12:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: For the past 10 months now, authorities around the world have been rounding up suspected terrorists and looking for links to September 11th. What they are finding out, just how far Osama bin Laden's terrorist network reaches.
CNN's Maria Ressa has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indonesian Agus Dwikrana was arrested last March in the Philippines and sentenced last week to at least 10 years in prison for possession of explosives. He says he was set up.
AGUS DWIKRANA, ALLEGED TERRORIST (through translator): I did nothing wrong. Those things in my bag don't belong to me.
RESSA: Intelligence officials in the region say Dwikarna is connected to the Al Qaeda cell in Spain, whose leader Ahmed Edin Barakat (ph) was in frequent contact with Mohammed Atta, the leader of the September 11th hijackers.
After Barakat's (ph) arrest, Spanish police began looking for the Indonesian who worked with him, Harlindumin Siragar (ph). Spanish authorities say Sirigar (ph) arranged for several hundred Al Qaeda operatives from Europe travel to Indonesia for training.
A Spanish court document released last November stated Sirigar (ph) "recruited Mujahadeens in Spain, to be sent to terrorist military training camps in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Indonesia." It's called Sirigar (ph) the leader of one of the existing camps in Indonesia at the service of Osama bin Laden. Intelligence officials tell CNN that camp was set up by Dwikarna who commands Luskarken Dullah (ph), an extremist militant group based in Poso (ph), Indonesia.
Intelligence documents obtained by CNN say their camp helped fuel Muslim-Christian violence in Poso (ph) and nearby Ambon in Indonesia's Maluku Islands.
Nearly 10,000 people have died there since 1999, because of sectarian violence. After September 11th, officials in the region say Ambon became the new Afghanistan for Muslim fighters around the world.
LEE KUAN YEW, SINGAPORE SENIOR MINISTER: There were initially inspired by the war in Afghanistan. Now without Afghanistan, they use Ambon and the Maluku as their new battleground.
RESSA: But Dwikarna's connections with Al Qaeda in Europe went to the highest levels. Intelligence officials say in June 2000, Dwikarna acted as a guide for Al Qaeda leaders who visited Indonesia. Osama bin Laden's second in command Almin Alzawari (ph) and Mohammed Atta, Al Qaeda's former military chief.
This intelligence document obtained by CNN explains why. "This visit was part of a wider strategy of shifting the base of Osama bin Laden's terrorist operations from the subcontinent to southeast Asia."
(on camera): That move didn't happen, but it's clear Osama bin Laden exploited Muslim discontent around the world to create potent homegrown terrorist networks, which may have worked together to plan September 11th.
In fact, U.S. sources and Asian intelligence officials tell CNN, they believe the planning for September 11th began in Malaysia and ended in Spain. helping put those networks together are vital links, like Agus Dwikrana.
Maria Ressa, CNN, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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