Al Qaeda financier on terror finance?
Two weeks ago, Yemen has arrested Hassan Hussein Alwan, described as al Qaeda’s top financer in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Bin Alwan has been charged with forming a terrorist group in Yemen and financing its activities.
“Alwan’s arrest will be instrumental in understanding the system of global terrorism financing. He is expected to be an intelligence mine for information which will hopefully result in the capture or killing of al Qaeda militants,” the Yemeni embassy in the US said.
The announcement indicated that al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists are still actively attempting to destabilize the Saudi monarchy that holds a quarter of the world’s proven oil reserves, as well as neighboring Yemen, the region’s poorest nation. Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, had long been a haven for Islamic militants and was the scene of the October 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors.
After the announcement of the arrest we have learned no more on the progress of the investigation or the “understanding of global terrorism financing”. Let us know if you have picked up some stories…