U.S. officials confirmed on Tuesday that another significant al Qaeda figure was captured in the weekend raid in Pakistan that nabbed suspected September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mustapha Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a man who officials say sent cash to lead September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta through bank accounts in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, was captured along with a Pakistani man during the raid that netted Mohammed , al Qaeda’s operations chief. The Pakistani is said to be of little importance to the operations. An official told CNN that al-Hawsawi is “not a huge fish, but he is not insignificant and he may know things.” The identity of the new U.S. prisoner was first reported by The New York Times. Al-Hawsawi, also known as Mustafa Ahmed, has been named as a co-conspirator in the indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui, who is accused of engaging in the “same preparation for murder” as the 19 hijackers who commandeered four U.S. jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Al-Hawsawi’s phone number was also found on a Federal Express package sent by Atta in early September 2001 from Florida to the United Arab Emirates. The number was also used as a contact for a wire transfer to Ramzi Binalshibh, who was arrested in Pakistan in September 2002, and has admitted a role in planning the attacks. Full Story
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