AL QAEDA SHIPPING GOLD TO SUDAN, INVESTIGATORS SAY

It Appears To Have Come From Sale Of Stored Opium, Heroin

Financial officers of al Qaeda and the Taliban have quietly shipped large
quantities of gold out of Pakistan to Sudan in recent weeks, transiting
through the United Arab Emirates and Iran, according to European, Pakistani
and U.S. investigators.

The sources said several shipments of boxes of gold, usually disguised as
other products, were taken by small boat from the Pakistani port of Karachi
to either Iran or Dubai, and from there mixed with other goods and flown by
chartered airplanes to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Although it is unclear how much gold has been moved, U.S. and European
officials said the quantity is significant and is an important indicator
that the al Qaeda network and members of Afghanistan's deposed Taliban
militia still have access to large financial reserves.

European and U.S. intelligence officials said the movement of gold also
highlights three significant developments in the war on terrorism: the
growing role of Iranian intelligence units allied with the country's
hard-line clerics in protecting and aiding al Qaeda; the potential
re-emergence of Sudan as a financial center for the organization; and the
ability of the terrorist group to generate new sources of revenue despite
the global crackdown on its finances.

The sources said Sudan may have been chosen because Osama bin Laden, the
Saudi-born al Qaeda leader, and other members of the network are familiar
with the country and retain business contacts there. They said traditional
havens for al Qaeda money on the Arabian peninsula such as Saudi Arabia and
United Arab Emirates are under intense international scrutiny, while
transactions in Sudan can more easily pass unnoticed.

Gold has for years been the preferred financial instrument of the Taliban
and al Qaeda. Most of the Taliban treasury was kept in gold when the
militia ruled Afghanistan, and taxes were often collected in gold. Just
before the Taliban and al Qaeda were driven from Afghanistan last year,
they shipped large amounts of gold to Dubai, and from there to other
havens, according to U. S., European and Arab officials.

Senior U.S. intelligence officials said they are investigating the
information about the new gold shipments and have opened a case on the
matter, but they had no further comment.

"We know they are looking at new sources of revenue and are finding new
ways to raise and move funds to where they are accessible," a U.S. official
said. "The bankers are the ones that move the money, and the bankers are
not sitting in caves in Afghanistan."

European and U.S. sources said they became aware of the shipments after
they occurred and have asked the Sudanese government to take measures to
halt the flow. A spokesman for the Sudanese Embassy in Washington said he
had no official information about the shipments and found the information
"hard to believe."

"Sudan is not going to allow anything like this to come in knowingly," the
official said. "We are concerned about terrorism. We are on a high level of
alert since Sept. 11."

But European intelligence sources said one hub of bin Laden's organization
continues to be Sudan, where he lived from 1991 until 1996, when he was
forced to move to Afghanistan.

Although the United States and other countries have praised Sudan for its
cooperation in the war on terrorism, European and U.S. officials say that
bin Laden, who invested tens of millions of dollars in the country when it
harbored him, continues to have economic interests there. While living in
Sudan, bin Laden operated a large construction business, bought extensive
land holdings and helped found a bank.

A senior European intelligence official said evidence is growing that
Khartoum is again serving "as a sort of hub" for al Qaeda business
transactions.

"He has banking contacts there, he has business contacts there, and he is
intimately familiar with the political and intelligence structure there,"
the official said. "He never fully left Sudan despite moving to Afghanistan."

The gold appears to be the fruit of what one Pakistani businessman
knowledgeable about Taliban financing called a "commodity for commodity
exchange," with the Taliban and al Qaeda trading opium and heroin for gold.
When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, according to Pakistani intelligence
officials, it actively engaged in opium and heroin production, and allowed
al Qaeda to raise funds through taxing the cultivation of poppies, the raw
material for heroin.

The Pakistani businessman said that over the past two months Pakistani
intelligence has picked up numerous reports indicating that al Qaeda and
the Taliban were sending large amounts of gold out of Karachi after selling
stashes of stored heroin and opium to drug traffickers in Central Asia.

"This is new money, not money stashed away from before," the Pakistani
source said. "The old network of moving drugs and trading it for gold,
which they have done for years, is still operational."

European terrorism experts said they are particularly troubled by
indications that Iranian intelligence officials are taking an active role
in moving the gold. The sources said there are credible reports that some
of the gold was flown on Iranian airplanes to Sudan.

"Iran is not a monolith. There are different groups, and some seem to be
directly helping these transfers," one official said. "It doesn't mean it
is a decision of the government, but they do not have full control over
what the security agencies do."

Arab intelligence sources have reported that Iran is sheltering senior al
Qaeda military and financial leaders in hotels and guest houses in the
Afghan border cities of Mashhad and Zabol.

Gold has long been a favorite method of storing wealth in Southeast Asia,
the Arabian peninsula and northern Africa. Smuggling gold by sea from
Karachi into Iran and Dubai is also a centuries-old activity.