WEAPON, DRUG TRAFFICKING SEEN AS KEY TO BIN LADEN FINANCES

WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network raise money through
a variety of legitimate and illegal sources, ranging from charities,
business enterprises and wealthy supporters to illegal drug and weapons
trafficking, the U.S. government believes.

Investigators and experts believe members of bin Laden's al-Qaida network
make money any way they can to support the cause.

There are strong signs al-Qaida has profited handsomely from the opium
trade, with fighters used as smugglers and to protect smugglers, said Sen.
John Kerry, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Al-Qaida's part in drug trafficking likely continued at least until
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban cracked down on opium production last year,
Kerry said. Opinion varies on the extent of the crackdown.

Jonathan Winer, deputy assistant secretary of state for international
enforcement in the Clinton administration, said those who deal in drugs
usually also traffic in guns, although the extent to which bin Laden is
profiting from the gun trade is unknown.

The world is awash in light weapons, making their sale less profitable,
Winer said. The question then becomes whether bin Laden is trafficking in
higher-powered weapons, he said.

A task force pursuing terrorist finances will go beyond al-Qaida, Deputy
Assistant Treasury Secretary Rob Nichols said.

"Our mission is threefold: one, deny terrorist groups access to the
international financial system; two, impair the ability of terrorists to
raise funds; and three, expose, isolate and incapacitate the financial
holdings of terrorists," Nichols said.

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said the government is investigating
whether terrorists tried to profit from stock and options trading before
the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings, though tracing such transactions to people
behind the hijackings could be very difficult.

The U.S. believes bin Laden is tapping several sources of finance, but not
his own fortune. It is considered unlikely that whatever is left of an
estimated $300 million he inherited from his family is being used for
al-Qaida's activities.

Instead, government officials believe he is drawing much of his cash from
charities and wealthy individuals, including some in the United States.

The government believes all the money raised here is sent abroad.

How it gets there is a key part of the investigation. Islamic charities, as
religious organizations, do not have to disclose the sources or
destinations of their fund raising.

Chechnya is another likely source of money, said Yuri Shvets, a former
Russian intelligence officer now with the Centre for Counterintelligence
and Security Studies in suburban Washington.

Chechen guerrillas, who consider bin Laden their patron and count one of
his lieutenants among their leaders, traffic in drugs and weapons, and sold
an arsenal of Soviet arms they found in Chechen territory, he said.