Bin Laden network in Central Europe supplies weapons components

LONDON — Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden might be hiding in Afghanistan. But his agents are alive and well in Europe.

Arab security sources said Bin Laden has established a network of agents in Central Europe to help supply equipment needed for his campaign against the United States and the West. They said this includes components for missile development.

Bin Laden agents, the sources said, are active in such countries as Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria and Hungary and enjoy a haven in nearby Kosovo.

They said these countries comprise a supply route of smuggled goods from the former East Bloc to Bin Laden bases in Asia and Africa.

The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily reported last weekend that Bulgarian intelligence had foiled an attempt to smuggle the Russian SA-16, or Igla anti-aircraft missiles, to Bin Laden. The newspaper said the attempt uncovered by the Bulgarian VKR agency was to smuggle the weapons through Bulgaria to Pakistan.

Bin Laden was aided by corrupt Bulgarian military officers, the newspaper said. The smuggling to Bin Laden through Bulgaria is believed to have started in 1999. The United States has urged Central and Eastern European nations to help stop Bin Laden. Washington has supplied aid to both Albania and Bulgaria in the effort.

Egypt has also sought to stop Bin Laden, whose allies are alleged to have carried out terrorist attacks in the country. Egyptian Interior Minister Habib Adli urged a visiting German delegation to support increased cooperation in counterterrorism. Adli said counterterrorism must be based on intelligence exchange and increased monitoring of militant groups.

In Budapest, Bin Laden's brother runs a company that is believed to direct weapons and dual-use components to Al Qaida bases in Afghanistan. The Hungarian economic daily Napi Gazdasag reported on Saturday that Tarik Mohammed Bin Laden has been in Hungary for years.

The newspaper said Tarik's company is not connected to the Jedda-based giant Saudi Bin Ladin Group, run by other brothers of Bin Laden. Bin Laden is said to have 50 brothers.