‘Big’ Al Qaeda Suspect Held

One of Osama bin Laden’s trusted lieutenants, an alleged Al Qaeda financier, has been located by Saudi Arabian authorities and U.S. officials said Friday they have frozen his assets.

U.S. officials would not disclose the whereabouts of Wa’el Hamza Julaidan--a man who they say fought alongside Bin Laden long before he established Al Qaeda and who has been a key lieutenant in the terrorist network ever since.

But they confirmed that Julaidan is either in custody in Saudi Arabia, under house arrest there or being closely monitored and prohibited from leaving the country while U.S. and Saudi authorities continue to investigate him.

“This individual is directly tied to Al Qaeda and Bin Laden,” said a senior Treasury Department official. “He is a big fish.”

The freezing of Julaidan’s assets, U.S. officials assert, is evidence that authorities have made much progress in the effort to staunch the flow of terrorist financing despite growing concerns that they have been unsuccessful in dismantling Al Qaeda’s economic support system.

But if Julaidan is in custody, it would mark a major coup for U.S. authorities in pursuing their global investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and into the worldwide activities of Al Qaeda.

Since Sept. 11, only a handful of senior Al Qaeda leaders have been captured, while most--including Bin Laden and top aide Ayman Zawahiri--remain at large.

In addition, many believe that Al Qaeda remains flush with enough cash to launch more large-scale terrorist attacks, and that the financial crackdown has been largely unsuccessful, according to a top Swiss official.

“When I talk to my contacts throughout Europe, they share the same opinion,” Swiss Atty. Gen. Valentin Roschacher said during a visit to Washington this week. Al Qaeda operatives “are still here, they are functioning and they have enough money to carry out other attacks.”

Tracking Al Qaeda’s finances, Roschacher said, “is difficult work,” particularly because the organization has converted much of its money into gold and diamonds. Those valuables are universally accepted as currency on the black market and are virtually impossible for authorities to trace, he said.

“If you compare the number of millions [of dollars] blocked across the world and compare that to the fortunes of Bin Laden and [Al Qaeda], you come to the conclusion that there is a lot more money out there that has not been found,” Roschacher said.

The United Nations also says in a report to be released next week that the global financial crackdown on terrorist financing has done little to thwart Al Qaeda.

“Despite initial successes in locating and freezing some $112 million in assets belonging to Al Qaeda and its associates, Al Qaeda continues to have access to considerable financial and other economic resources,” said the United Nations’ special monitoring group in charge of tracking worldwide efforts to dismantle the terrorist network.

“Government officials have indicated that it has proved exceedingly difficult to identify ... Al Qaeda-related funds and resources,” a draft version of the report says.

“The funds collected and disbursed by a number of Islamic-based charities is proving particularly difficult for governments to monitor and regulate.”

U.S. Treasury officials dispute that, saying they have made much progress in cracking down on Al Qaeda’s financing.

“Over the past year, we have seen a significant number of real world cases where the financial war on terrorism has thwarted terror and saved lives,” according to a report the Treasury Department will issue next week concerning the status of its yearlong investigation.

“Our war on terror is working--both here in the U.S. and overseas.... We are seeing progress,” according to a draft version of the report obtained Friday by The Times.

Treasury officials said Al Qaeda’s shift to using gold and diamonds is an indication that the crackdown has had an effect, because such bulky currencies can’t be wired from one end of the globe to the other as they can in more traditional banking systems. And they said that, although the frequency of the blocking actions has slowed, that is only because so many already have been issued.

To date, the U.S. government has designated 235 individuals, entities and organizations as “supporters of terrorism,” enabling financial institutions here and abroad to freeze their assets.

“This includes 112 individuals ranging from organizational leaders such as Osama bin Laden and his key lieutenants to terrorist operatives, financiers, and intermediaries around the globe,” the report said.

A Treasury official on Friday said he could not discuss the specifics of Julaidan’s status: “The Saudis know exactly where he is. And they know that he is as much a threat to them as he is to us.”

Julaidan is believed to have been living in Saudi Arabia for “at least the last few months,” the official said.

He has for years been closely involved in a series of front companies and charitable organizations that Al Qaeda uses as conduits for raising money to launch terrorist attacks.

Julaidan, authorities said, has acted as a chief of logistics for Bin Laden and the two have spent a significant amount of time together over the years. Julaidan fought with Bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s against the Soviet army, Treasury officials said.

Julaidan also is close with Bin Laden lieutenants Zawahiri, Abu Zubeida and Mohammed Atef, the former military commander of Al Qaeda believed to have been killed last year in an airstrike. He also has been associated with Makhtab al Khidamat, a precursor organization of Al Qaeda, the Rabita Trust and Gamaa al Islamiya terrorist organization.

In the mid-1980s, Julaidan also was a leader of the Islamic Center in Tucson, according to financial documents filed by the organization.

On Friday, the leader of the Islamic Center said he was unfamiliar with Julaidan. “I don’t know him. He was here a long time ago,” said Omar Shahin, who has been the center’s director and imam, or prayer leader, for two years.

The senior Treasury Department official said Zubeida, who was captured in March in Pakistan, has confirmed to U.S. authorities that Julaidan plays a major role in Al Qaeda.

U.S. officials described Julaidan as being very wealthy and said that, although he may not have many assets in the United States, he is believed to have sizable accounts in Saudi Arabia that also will be frozen.

And though U.S. authorities would not confirm exactly where Julaidan is, they suggested that he is in custody.

“They have degrees of detention” in Saudi Arabia, the senior Treasury official said. Julaidan, he added, is in one of them.