INTERESTS OF USAMA BIN LADEN WERE REPRESENTED IN BAKU BY ENAAM ARNAUT
New details about the ties of the ''Al Qaida'' with the ''Benevolence International Foundation'' acting in Baku are being disclosed.
The American special services are already sure that the ''Benevolence International Foundation'' operating actively on the territory of Azerbaijan had close ties with Usama Bin Laden. One of these days the ''Washington Post'' newspaper reported that during the search in the Bosnian branch of the organizations, letters addressed to its leader, Egyptian Enaam Arnaut written by the terrorist number one Usama Bin Laden were found out.
The ''International Benevolence Foundation'' opened its branch in Baku eight years ago. It is known that the fund was financially supporting the Arabian soldiers fighting against Karabakh Armenians before. After the cease-fire the Baku representation of the fund got a legal status and found a traditional shelter – benevolence. Each month the foundation’s employees were paying $25 to poor families. In reality, big sums of money were being transferred from the head office in Chicago to Azerbaijan. It is unknown, how they were being spent. Not so long ago in an interview to the ''Echo of Moscow'' radio station the Assistant to the Russian President Sergey Yastrzhambski said that there were some facts proving that the mercenaries from Muslim countries fighting against the federal forces in Chechnya, were being financed from Baku. According to Lenta.ru Russian information portal quoting the American special services, the fund has transferred about $300 million for the Chechen troops. Yastrzhembski confirmed that apart from money, the field commander Khattab was receiving also explosives, communication means, defense ammunition, X-ray systems, and different equipment.
The inflows of foreign currency and weapons from Baku to Chechnya were being implemented, evidently, within the frames of a joint programs developed by Enaam Arnaut and Usama Bin Laden. This is indirectly confirmed by one of the letters of Usama Bin Laden found in Bosnia: ''The time has come to attack Russia,'' the terrorist number one writes. It is interesting that the Baku branch of the fund continued its activity even after Arnaut himself and his friends in different countries of the world were arrested. Moreover, the emissaries of the ''Benevolence International Foundation'' felt themselves very comfortable in the capital city of Azerbaijan even when the UNO publicized the list of the most dangerous terrorist organizations having ties with ''Al Qaida''. The ''Benevolence International Foundation'' was among the first in the list. On November 25 last year the Commission of the Security Council of the UNO spread information containing the precise address of the Headquarters of the fund's branch: Bashir Safaroghlu str, app. 69, Baku. But this also was ignored by the Azerbaijani authorities who did not even try to eliminate the branches of the extremist structures. In early December the head of the Baku branch was assuring the Baku journalists that he was not undergoing any pressure from the part of the Azerbaijani authorities.
The press secretary of the Ministry of National Security Araz Gurbanov also confirmed this saying that the special services did not have any information about the illegal activity of this structure. ''There are no facts confirming that the Benevolence International Foundation was conducting an activity directed against Azerbaijan,'' the ''Eni Musavat'' newspaper published in Baku wrote. The special services were instructed by Heydar Aliyev to liquidate the branch of the fund founded by Arnaut only when the U.S. Department of State made a pressure over the country’s authorities. Today the Azerbaijani officials indirectly admit that the Baku branch of the foundation has close contacts with leaders of international terrorists, and has been involved in financing of their activity. Member of board of the National Bank Rufat Aslanov said recently that the Azerbaijani representation of the fund up to now is in the list of the organizations involved in financing of terrorists prepared by the experts of the UNO, European Commission and the OSCE. We shall remind that four months ago the press service of the National Bank of Azerbaijan informed that the issue of closing the accounts of the representation was not even being discussed. The press service of the Ministry of Justice was assuring that the issue of prohibition of the activity of the fund was out of the question.
The inflows of foreign currency and weapons from Baku to Chechnya were being implemented, evidently, within the frames of a joint programs developed by Enaam Arnaut and Usama Bin Laden. This is indirectly confirmed by one of the letters of Usama Bin Laden found in Bosnia: ''The time has come to attack Russia,'' the terrorist number one writes. It is interesting that the Baku branch of the fund continued its activity even after Arnaut himself and his friends in different countries of the world were arrested. Moreover, the emissaries of the ''Benevolence International Foundation'' felt themselves very comfortable in the capital city of Azerbaijan even when the UNO publicized the list of the most dangerous terrorist organizations having ties with ''Al Qaida''. The ''Benevolence International Foundation'' was among the first in the list. On November 25 last year the Commission of the Security Council of the UNO spread information containing the precise address of the Headquarters of the fund's branch: Bashir Safaroghlu str, app. 69, Baku. But this also was ignored by the Azerbaijani authorities who did not even try to eliminate the branches of the extremist structures. In early December the head of the Baku branch was assuring the Baku journalists that he was not undergoing any pressure from the part of the Azerbaijani authorities.
The press secretary of the Ministry of National Security Araz Gurbanov also confirmed this saying that the special services did not have any information about the illegal activity of this structure. ''There are no facts confirming that the Benevolence International Foundation was conducting an activity directed against Azerbaijan,'' the ''Eni Musavat'' newspaper published in Baku wrote. The special services were instructed by Heydar Aliyev to liquidate the branch of the fund founded by Arnaut only when the U.S. Department of State made a pressure over the country’s authorities. Today the Azerbaijani officials indirectly admit that the Baku branch of the foundation has close contacts with leaders of international terrorists, and has been involved in financing of their activity. Member of board of the National Bank Rufat Aslanov said recently that the Azerbaijani representation of the fund up to now is in the list of the organizations involved in financing of terrorists prepared by the experts of the UNO, European Commission and the OSCE. We shall remind that four months ago the press service of the National Bank of Azerbaijan informed that the issue of closing the accounts of the representation was not even being discussed. The press service of the Ministry of Justice was assuring that the issue of prohibition of the activity of the fund was out of the question.
