Bin Laden linked to Albanian drug gangs

Interpol believes that Osama bin Laden is linked to Albanian gangs who have taken over a growing web of crime across Europe.

The investigations into organised crime links with his terrorist network also show that Mr bin Laden supplied one of his top military commanders for an elite KLA unit during the Kosovo conflict.

Gwen McClure of the criminal subdivision of Interpol revealed the Albanian connection in a briefing to the cross-party Nato parliamentary group of MPs. She told them that intelligence showed several Algerian terrorist leaders were present at a meeting in Albania. Mr bin Laden was known to be in the country at the time and was believed by Albanian police to have been at the meeting.

"It was during this meeting that many structures and networks were established for propaganda and fund raising activities and for providing the Algerian armed groups with logistical support," she said.

Albanian heroin and gun trafficking gangs mushroomed during the Kosovo war and are becoming more powerful. They have taken control of 70 per cent of the heroin market in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries.

The terrorist cells use the criminal networks to raise money for their attacks. Mrs McClure said: "These crime syndicates have formed alliances of convenience and are willing to co-operate or make business arrangements with other organised crime groups."

An attempt by Interpol to uncover the terrorist and crime links revealed how one of the leaders of a Chechen criminal group transferred money received from criminal activities in Russia to western European countries through offshore banks. The trail led to Aghmed Ressam, who was arrested in December 1999 while trying to enter the US from Canada. He was in possession of a timing device, explosive materials and false identification documents, and was known to have shared a Montreal apartment with Said Atmani, a known document forger for a terrorist group with bin Laden links.

The group in Montreal was in contact with individuals involved in the terrorist support activity in France and with several mujahedin groups who were active in Bosnia.