As it turned out, their luck was just beginning. The authorities also arrested another man in the apartment, a 34-year-old Saudi they couldn’t immediately identify. It wasn’t until the next day that they discovered he was Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, another most-wanted Qaeda terrorist believed to be one of the 9-11 plot’s key “paymasters.” Officials tell NEWSWEEK that Mohammed and al-Hawsawi are both under intense interrogation, possibly at the U.S. air base in Baghram, Afghanistan. If they talk, the men could provide answers to many key questions about the September plot that investigators have yet to figure out: Whose idea was it? Who issued the go-ahead? And who supplied the money to finance the attacks? That last puzzle is especially important, since it could help authorities unravel the all-important worldwide network of wealthy individuals, charities and governments that enable Osama bin Laden to make his deadly fantasies come true. (On Saturday, authorities scored another victory, arresting Abu Jazir al-Jaziri, described by intelligence sources as an “important Al Qaeda figure” who handled logistics.)
Few people know more about the cash end of the business than al-Hawsawi. Investigators say that on June 23, 2001, al-Hawsawi and another man, Fayez Banihammad, opened accounts at the Dubai branch of Hong Kong’s Standard Chartered Bank. Al-Hawsawi, who identified himself as a businessman and showed a Saudi passport, requested two Visa debit cards linked to his account. Two days later Banihammad flew to Orlando, Fla. He would later become one of the hijackers who crashed into the World Trade Center.
Al-Hawsawi stayed behind in Dubai, where most of the hijackers stopped before moving on to the United States, and investigators believe he gave them money to purchase traveler’s checks. Weeks later, another Visa card was issued on al-Hawsawi’s account, in the name of Abdulrahman A.A. Al-Ghamdi. Investigators now believe this was an alias used by none other than Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. The account was flush with cash. Not long after al-Hawsawi opened it, someone made a series of deposits totaling $102,000. (Intelligence sources say al-Hawsawi, who comes from a well-off Saudi family, may have put up some of the money himself.)
Al-Hawsawi’s work wasn’t done. According to internal FBI reports obtained by NEWSWEEK, two weeks after al-Hawsawi opened the account, he–or someone using his cell-phone number–wired $15,000 to Hamburg, Germany. The person who went to collect the money was Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an alleged top 9-11 plotter who was captured last September. Within days, officials say, bin al-Shibh wired $14,000 to Zacarias Moussaoui in the United States.
In the days before the attacks, the frugal hijackers began sending the money they hadn’t spent back to al-Hawsawi, about $26,000 in all. Lead hijacker Muhammad Atta also sent a FedEx package to al-Hawsawi in Dubai. In fact, investigators first became aware of al-Hawsawi’s existence when they found the torn-up FedEx receipt in the hotel room where Atta spent his last night. Later, the Feds retrieved a Dubai surveillance tape of al-Hawsawi picking up the package. Hours before the attacks, authorities say, al-Hawsawi transferred $42,000 onto his Visa card, boarded a flight to Karachi, Pakistan, and disappeared.
Investigators had hoped the arrests would lead to a quick unraveling of the rest of the terrorist network–and possibly the capture of bin Laden himself. But so far, neither man has given up much useful information. Several promising leads about terrorist plots in the United States have “washed out,” says an FBI official. And wading through the cache of evidence found at the apartment has been slow and difficult. But U.S. officials say they have classified evidence linking al-Hawsawi to other terrorist plots. And they believe it’s just a matter of time before they crack Al Qaeda’s code–with or without the help of its authors.
