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CNN Live Saturday
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Arrested
Aired March 01, 2003 - 15:01 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me, right next to me, in fact, is CNN's Mike Brooks. He's one of our specialists, law enforcement specialists.
Mike, the big breaking news today, in that the number three guy in the al Qaeda network, Shaikh Khalid Mohammed, has been arrested in Pakistan. How significant is this?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: He is a major, major player in the al Qaeda organization. And me personally, I'm glad to see it also since I worked on the investigations of the World Trade Center bombing the first time and also on the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi when I was on the joint terrorism task force there.
And we look at the cooperation, Carol, that we, the United States, especially the FBI, has had with Pakistan. We brought back -- assisted the FBI in bringing back a number of terrorists over the years.
Back in 1995, Ramzi Yousef, responsible for the World Trade Center bombing. We look at Miramar Kanzi (ph), back in 1997 was brought back from Pakistan also, with the assistance of Pakistani authorities. The FBI performed a rendition to bring him back.
Now this terrorist, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, will also mostly likely be brought back. He's under indictment here in the United States. He'll be brought back either to the southern district of New York.
But sources are telling me that there's a good possibility he will be brought back and tried in the eastern district of Virginia, in Alexandria, Virginia, where Zacarias Moussaoui right now is going through a number of his hearings, because that's where they're focusing their attention on the 9/11 attacks there.
But he has a number of incidents to deal with back in the United States when they get him back. And most likely, the FBI, with the assistance of the Department of Defense, will bring him back here as soon as they can.
LIN: All right. We're going to get to exactly how they're going to transport him and where they're going to hold him.
But first and foremost, let's bring people up to speed as to what his role was in the September 11 attacks. He's been described as the mastermind. What does that mean? BROOKS: He was one of the major players, the major masterminds on putting the whole plan together from the ground level. And putting the whole -- all the plans and making sure all the "T's" were crossed and "I's" were dotted. And actually...
LIN: He selected the terrorists who were going to be on the airplane.
BROOKS: Yes, he did. That what it's believed that he did. He played a major role in that. Mohammed Atta and the others, suicide folks that did this in Washington and in New York. A major, major player.
And it's a great get, as the FBI would say.
LIN: And this was in cooperation between the FBI and Pakistani authorities?
BROOKS: There are a number of different agencies involved. You talk about the CIA, DIA, defense intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the Pakistani military, U.S. military plays a big role in this.
When they went and go ahead Mirimar Kanzi (ph) in 1997 for shooting a number of CIA workers outside of their headquarters in Langley, Virginia, we took a number of military people over there with them, but the FBI's hostage rescue team and the case agent at the time, Greg Garrett, were the ones that actually kicked the door in, went and tackled him to the ground and took him into custody.
There's also word that I'm hearing that there might -- there's a possibility that the authorities could have been tipped off because of a high reward that was...
LIN: $25 million.
BROOKS: Yes. So there's that possibility also.
LIN: Mike, I know this is an important point to you that you want to make. Where is he being held and how is he going to be transported back to the United States?
BROOKS: Right now, he's being held in an undisclosed location for obvious reasons. But most likely, the scenario has been in the past with other terrorists they've brought back -- they call it a rendition back to the United States -- is by U.S. military plane.
And most likely, they'll fly him back either to New York or they're talking most likely to Virginia now.
Last time they brought a terrorist back, flew right into Dulles Airport and took him right into Alexandria by helicopter.
LIN: Can you imagine? All right. Thank you very much, Mike Brooks.
BROOKS: Thanks.
LIN: Big break in this case today.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to get more now on the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Ash-Har Quraishi joins us now by phone with the latest on that -- Usher.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Renay, what we're hearing from officials here in Pakistan is that this joint operation, which took place in the early hours Saturday morning here in Pakistan, between Friday night and Saturday morning, FBI officials and Pakistani security agents actually went into a location.
They're saying this was a house. The house belonged to a political leader, a leader of the Dawat Islami (ph), which is the largest religious party here in Pakistan.
Now according to our sources, they say that it's possible there was a raid in Kuwait last week, which is near the Afghan border here in Pakistan, in which one person, suspected al Qaeda operative, was arrested. They picked up that person.
They believe, according to intelligence sources, they believe that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed may have escaped that raid and somehow made his way back just south of the capital here in Islamabad and Bhalatindhi(ph), where he was picked up.
So they believe that he had escaped from Kuwait and then was tracked back to where he was picked up on Saturday morning -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Do we know anything about the other suspects who were taken into custody with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed?
QURAISHI: Right now, the sources that we have, government officials are not going to details about who exactly they have in custody. They did say that two Middle Eastern men were taken into custody, men of Middle Eastern origin, one of them identified positively as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
They also said that they picked up a Pakistani man who is believed to have ties to a local extremist group. They haven't been too specific about that.
But Renay, just so you know, the al Qaeda terrorist network is believed to have very close ties to a lot of the militant extremist groups here in Pakistan that share the same sentiments as them, that have actually helped and cooperated in trying to harbor people.
Now as we've been seeing, some of these al Qaeda operatives have made it closer in, deeper into Pakistan, crossing over that porous border on the western edge of Pakistan with Afghanistan. We've had raids in Islamabad, and before in Karachi, those are all in the interior of Pakistan.
And so in that sense, they say it's not surprising that he was caught here close to Islamabad, close to the capital. SAN MIGUEL: And as you said, this was a joint operation involving the CIA, the American CIA and the Pakistani government, and it is said to be ongoing. Do we know anything about whether we are expecting more arrests in the next hours or next day or so?
QURAISHI: Well, right now, they're not saying too much. What we do know is that about 25 FBI operatives, according to our sources here in Pakistan, were involved in the raid.
And normally what happens is that the FBI gathers the intelligence according to Pakistani officials it's provided to Pakistani security agencies who actually go in and physically conduct the raids. So if you saw the raid, there is dramatic video from the raid in which they caught Ramzi Binalshibh on September 11, 2002, in Karachi. Gunfire actually erupted there, you saw Pakistani security forces on the ground there carrying out the operation.
What we understand here is that the FBI was actually involved in this operation physically. They went in with the security agents, at least according to our sources. They weren't taking any chances in trying to apprehend Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, although in the past, what we understand is that normally it's been carried out by the Pakistani officials here -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. We'll be hearing more from you later. Ash-Har Quraishi, live in Pakistan.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 1, 2003 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me, right next to me, in fact, is CNN's Mike Brooks. He's one of our specialists, law enforcement specialists.
Mike, the big breaking news today, in that the number three guy in the al Qaeda network, Shaikh Khalid Mohammed, has been arrested in Pakistan. How significant is this?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: He is a major, major player in the al Qaeda organization. And me personally, I'm glad to see it also since I worked on the investigations of the World Trade Center bombing the first time and also on the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi when I was on the joint terrorism task force there.
And we look at the cooperation, Carol, that we, the United States, especially the FBI, has had with Pakistan. We brought back -- assisted the FBI in bringing back a number of terrorists over the years.
Back in 1995, Ramzi Yousef, responsible for the World Trade Center bombing. We look at Miramar Kanzi (ph), back in 1997 was brought back from Pakistan also, with the assistance of Pakistani authorities. The FBI performed a rendition to bring him back.
Now this terrorist, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, will also mostly likely be brought back. He's under indictment here in the United States. He'll be brought back either to the southern district of New York.
But sources are telling me that there's a good possibility he will be brought back and tried in the eastern district of Virginia, in Alexandria, Virginia, where Zacarias Moussaoui right now is going through a number of his hearings, because that's where they're focusing their attention on the 9/11 attacks there.
But he has a number of incidents to deal with back in the United States when they get him back. And most likely, the FBI, with the assistance of the Department of Defense, will bring him back here as soon as they can.
LIN: All right. We're going to get to exactly how they're going to transport him and where they're going to hold him.
But first and foremost, let's bring people up to speed as to what his role was in the September 11 attacks. He's been described as the mastermind. What does that mean? BROOKS: He was one of the major players, the major masterminds on putting the whole plan together from the ground level. And putting the whole -- all the plans and making sure all the "T's" were crossed and "I's" were dotted. And actually...
LIN: He selected the terrorists who were going to be on the airplane.
BROOKS: Yes, he did. That what it's believed that he did. He played a major role in that. Mohammed Atta and the others, suicide folks that did this in Washington and in New York. A major, major player.
And it's a great get, as the FBI would say.
LIN: And this was in cooperation between the FBI and Pakistani authorities?
BROOKS: There are a number of different agencies involved. You talk about the CIA, DIA, defense intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the Pakistani military, U.S. military plays a big role in this.
When they went and go ahead Mirimar Kanzi (ph) in 1997 for shooting a number of CIA workers outside of their headquarters in Langley, Virginia, we took a number of military people over there with them, but the FBI's hostage rescue team and the case agent at the time, Greg Garrett, were the ones that actually kicked the door in, went and tackled him to the ground and took him into custody.
There's also word that I'm hearing that there might -- there's a possibility that the authorities could have been tipped off because of a high reward that was...
LIN: $25 million.
BROOKS: Yes. So there's that possibility also.
LIN: Mike, I know this is an important point to you that you want to make. Where is he being held and how is he going to be transported back to the United States?
BROOKS: Right now, he's being held in an undisclosed location for obvious reasons. But most likely, the scenario has been in the past with other terrorists they've brought back -- they call it a rendition back to the United States -- is by U.S. military plane.
And most likely, they'll fly him back either to New York or they're talking most likely to Virginia now.
Last time they brought a terrorist back, flew right into Dulles Airport and took him right into Alexandria by helicopter.
LIN: Can you imagine? All right. Thank you very much, Mike Brooks.
BROOKS: Thanks.
LIN: Big break in this case today.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to get more now on the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Ash-Har Quraishi joins us now by phone with the latest on that -- Usher.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Renay, what we're hearing from officials here in Pakistan is that this joint operation, which took place in the early hours Saturday morning here in Pakistan, between Friday night and Saturday morning, FBI officials and Pakistani security agents actually went into a location.
They're saying this was a house. The house belonged to a political leader, a leader of the Dawat Islami (ph), which is the largest religious party here in Pakistan.
Now according to our sources, they say that it's possible there was a raid in Kuwait last week, which is near the Afghan border here in Pakistan, in which one person, suspected al Qaeda operative, was arrested. They picked up that person.
They believe, according to intelligence sources, they believe that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed may have escaped that raid and somehow made his way back just south of the capital here in Islamabad and Bhalatindhi(ph), where he was picked up.
So they believe that he had escaped from Kuwait and then was tracked back to where he was picked up on Saturday morning -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Do we know anything about the other suspects who were taken into custody with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed?
QURAISHI: Right now, the sources that we have, government officials are not going to details about who exactly they have in custody. They did say that two Middle Eastern men were taken into custody, men of Middle Eastern origin, one of them identified positively as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
They also said that they picked up a Pakistani man who is believed to have ties to a local extremist group. They haven't been too specific about that.
But Renay, just so you know, the al Qaeda terrorist network is believed to have very close ties to a lot of the militant extremist groups here in Pakistan that share the same sentiments as them, that have actually helped and cooperated in trying to harbor people.
Now as we've been seeing, some of these al Qaeda operatives have made it closer in, deeper into Pakistan, crossing over that porous border on the western edge of Pakistan with Afghanistan. We've had raids in Islamabad, and before in Karachi, those are all in the interior of Pakistan.
And so in that sense, they say it's not surprising that he was caught here close to Islamabad, close to the capital. SAN MIGUEL: And as you said, this was a joint operation involving the CIA, the American CIA and the Pakistani government, and it is said to be ongoing. Do we know anything about whether we are expecting more arrests in the next hours or next day or so?
QURAISHI: Well, right now, they're not saying too much. What we do know is that about 25 FBI operatives, according to our sources here in Pakistan, were involved in the raid.
And normally what happens is that the FBI gathers the intelligence according to Pakistani officials it's provided to Pakistani security agencies who actually go in and physically conduct the raids. So if you saw the raid, there is dramatic video from the raid in which they caught Ramzi Binalshibh on September 11, 2002, in Karachi. Gunfire actually erupted there, you saw Pakistani security forces on the ground there carrying out the operation.
What we understand here is that the FBI was actually involved in this operation physically. They went in with the security agents, at least according to our sources. They weren't taking any chances in trying to apprehend Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, although in the past, what we understand is that normally it's been carried out by the Pakistani officials here -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. We'll be hearing more from you later. Ash-Har Quraishi, live in Pakistan.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
