Khartoum, Sudan
Al Qaida has been transferring its stockpiles of gold from Pakistan to the Sudan over the past several weeks, U.S. and Pakistani investigators told The Washington Post this week. They said Iranian intelligence helped al Qaida move the gold—the currency of choice for the Taliban, which harbored al Qaida for years in Afghanistan—in shipments of legitimate goods. Sudan was chosen as a repository because Osama bin Laden used to be based there and presumably still has Sudanese contacts. U.S. officials suspect bin Laden’s supporters have been able to hide many of his assets despite a global crackdown on terror financing. “The bankers are the ones that move the money,” a U.S. official said, “and the bankers are not sitting in caves in Afghanistan.”
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