Osama bin Laden, the top suspect in last week's massive anti-US terror attacks using hijacked airliners, is too poor and too isolated to have masterminded them, an Islamist said here Thursday.
Bin Laden "lives in mountains and caves in Afghanistan and his capabilities will not allow him to carry out such tremendous explosions which require the capabilities of a fullfledged state," said Wisa al-Mahdi, an official with the opposition Popular National Congress (PNC).
Mahdi, who is the wife of Hassan al-Turabi, the detained Islamist ideologue who helped President Omar al-Beshir attain power in a 1989 coup, told AFP that Bin Laden "has squandered all of his money and has become penniless."
Mahdi, sister of former prime minister Sadek al-Mahdi, said Bin Laden "usually does not deny any act he carries out."
She expressed astonishment at why the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was not accused of the attacks.
Bin Laden, a disowned member of a wealthy Saudi family which runs a construction empire, lived in Sudan for about five years until 1996 when he was deported for undeclared reasons.
Though he was never seen in public, Bin Laden had extensive businesses in Sudan, including the Al-Muhajor construction company which built the Khartoum-Atbara highway and began work on a huge commercial complex project in Khartoum center which now stands incomplete.
He also ran trading enterprises, including Taba Commercial Company, likewise in Khartoum, as well as a vast agricultural project in Gezira State, central Sudan.
But he reportedly had many other business that were not public knowledge.
Sudanese officials say that all of Bin Laden's businesses have been liquidated since his departure.
In Washington, a US State Department spokesman said Thursday that the US government is seeking evidence linking Bin Laden with the gum arabic industry in Sudan.
Gum arabic is imported into the United States under special licenses and is a key ingredient in many soft drinks, food products, inks and glues.
Reports dating back years have alleged that in the 1990s, Bin Laden held a stake in The Gum Arabic Co. of Sudan Ltd., which controls all gum arabic exports from Sudan. It denies any connection to him -- KHARTOUM (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
