Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Seven Terrorists on the FBI's Most Wanted List

Aired December 10, 2001 - 05:35   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: Well bin Laden is at the top of the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists, but he is not alone.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick looks at some other names on the list and the growing evidence against them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They played different parts for the common goal of attacking the United States. Now they're on the run, then wanted in connection with the 1998 car bombings of two U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Darsolam, Tanzania. The leader of the two al Qaeda cells that carried out the attacks, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah.

The 38-year old Egyptian once played professional soccer. Prosecutors say Abdullah met with several Kenya cell members at Nairobi's Hill Top Hotel days before the August 1998 attacks. Convicted terrorists Mohammed Odeh, whose fingerprint was found in the hotel room where they met, told FBI agents Abdullah has a lot of contact with Osama bin Laden and the hierarchy in Afghanistan.

Also at large is the alleged bomb maker Muzin Musa-Makwalli Atwa (ph). Atwa, skilled in intelligence and explosives, allegedly trained al Qaeda members. He's on the FBI most wanted list with Anes Alibi, who the U.S. government says held scout potential targets for the 1998 attacks.

Another alleged embassy bombing co-conspirator on the most wanted list, Mustafa Fadhil. Prosecutors say the 25-year old Egyptian got the go ahead to activate the Tanzania cell. The deal had ties to three bin Laden operatives convicted this spring for being part of a worldwide terrorist conspiracy. One of them, Wadi el Hage gave bin Laden's order allegedly to Fadhil, who trained at the same terrorist camp as convicted bomb plotter Mohammed Odeh.

The deal, prosecutors say, hooked up with a third convicted terrorist Kofa Mohamed, who told FBI agents that together the two rented the house where the Tanzania bomb was built and, together with fugitives Fahid Imsalam and Ahmed Galani, used a flour mill to grind the TNT. As for 27-year old Tanzanian fugitive Ahmed Galani, he helped Imsalam buy gas tanks to make the Tanzania bomb.

Prosecutors say Galani was one of two men to buy the Tanzania truck. The other man, apparently in charge of transportation, according to trial witnesses is Sheik Ahmed Swedan. Trial evidence showed Swedan bought the Tanzania truck, paying $6,000 for a used 1987 Nissan Atlas refrigeration truck, much like this one.

(on camera): And how did these men get away? Easy -- just before the car bombs ripped through the two U.S. embassies, five of the seven men left town, catching flights to Karachi, Pakistan. Authorities don't know exactly where any of the men went next, though they believe some may have gone to Afghanistan.

Authorities are offering a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrests of the fugitives on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com