TALIBAN ALLEGEDLY SHIPPING GOLD

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 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 was significant and was an important indicator
that al Qaeda 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
highlighted 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
reemergence 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 intelligence 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 were under intense international
scrutiny, while transactions in Sudan could 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 safe
havens, the sources said.

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.