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Al-Qaeda has used South Africa as a base
The Scorpions have investigated a claim that a clandestine organisation based in Cape Town shipped 10 al-Qaeda operatives to South Africa from Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2003 and 2004.The organisation allegedly set them up with almost £1-million (R12-million) and false South African citizenship - before they were transferred to Britain. Intelligence sources revealed to The Saturday Star that the "Pakistani" operative named "Mr Butt", who allegedly arranged the whole deal, was understood to be none other than Africa's most notorious gun-runner, Tajikistan-born ethnic Russian Victor Anatoliyevich Bout. Bout, 38, apparently first set up shop in South Africa in 1997. He is being probed by United States authorities for alleged ties to both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The startling claims - which the Scorpions swore were groundless - were made exclusively to this newspaper by "LW", a 61-year-old "freelance undercover agent", and self-described specialist in laundering drug money. He claimed the objective of the 10 al-Qaeda operatives in the United Kingdom might be connected to the bloody London terrorist bombings last month that claimed 56 lives. Born in Uruguay but now a US citizen, "LW" claims to have built a 39-year career freelancing for various government agencies like the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) by infiltrating drug cartels like the late Pablo Escobar's infamous Medellin cocaine empire in Colombia. The Scorpions investigated "LW's" claims to have infiltrated the "Cape Town al-Qaeda cell" with an offer to use his expertise as a money launderer to transfer the £1-million for the UK-targeted operation into SA. But Makhosini Nkosi, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) under which the Scorpions falls, said "LW" was "offering services to the NPA as an informant - until his information was proved to be unreliable. All contact with him was terminated". The outfit run by "Mr Butt" allegedly turned out to be nothing more than a credit-card fraud operation with no links to terrorism. The government source said "LW" "told us a story of al-Qaeda and a couple of million pounds, but we looked at it and it was bulls**t. He is a rogue". The source then strongly warned this newspaper that pursuing the story could prove "dangerous". "LW" said that if he had lied, "why did the Scorpions give me a letter of introduction to the DEA office in London in 2003?" Former London DEA agent Ira Israel, speaking from Arizona this week, confirmed that "LW" did "come with a letter, and I believe it was from your Scorpions, saying something like he was legitimate and he had dealt with them". "LW" claimed that his task for "Mr Butt" would have been to channel the £1-million from a bank in Britain, and then, having deducted his 12 percent commission (£120 000), via a bank account in Hong Kong for a "company selling African curios over the Internet". The remaining money would then be "cleaned" via "LW's" Swiss bank account. The final stage would be for "LW" to set up 10 bank accounts in South Africa under the fictional names of the "al-Qaeda" men, then move the money into South Africa, converting it into the equivalent of R9,8-million and dividing it into the 10 accounts. But, instead, "LW" was compelled to return to the US in 2003 to face massive tax-evasion charges for, he claims, not declaring income derived from his work for the DEA. The Inland Revenue Service in Washington confirmed he was indicted for evading $250 336 (R1,6-million) in tax on $769 597 in earnings between 1989 and 1991. In September 2003 he was sentenced to five years' probation, and ordered to pay 10 percent of his earnings, plus a $283 422 fine. He paid - despite living under the roof of the West Palm Beach Salvation Army. "LW" said he also told Britain's Secret Service (MI5) and the FBI about the alleged plot to insert "al-Qaeda operatives" into Britain. The FBI, he claimed, had shown him photographs of the man he called "Mr Butt". He further claimed the bureau refused to allow him to launder the money as planned. But he maintained that the money was laundered by someone else and alleged that the 10 men did relocate to Britain via South Africa "sometime in 2003/2004". Special Agent John Stewart of the FBI's Miami Division, responded with a brief "yeah" when "LW" was described to him, but said: "The bureau's policy is we don't comment on ongoing investigations or people who assist us." In 2002, Bout's alleged business partner, Sanjivan Ruprah of Kenya, was arrested by Belgian police. Ruprah allegedly introduced South African mercenary outfit Executive Outcomes to ousted Liberian leader Charles Taylor. Al-Qaeda allegedly set up shop in Liberia under Taylor in 1998. In a February 2001 interview with Ekho Moskvy radio in Moscow, following press reports that he had sold arms to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Bout said: "I am not, and never have been, associated with al-Qaeda, the Taliban or any of their officials, officers or related organisations. "I am not, nor are any of my organisations, associated with arms traffickers and/or trafficking or the sale of arms of any kind anywhere in the world." But in 2002, Peter Hain, Britain's lead investigator into the affair, said: "Bout undoubtedly did supply al-Qaeda and the Taliban with arms." Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-08-27 |
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