Posted on 02/27/2008 12:47:41 PM PST by NormsRevenge
BRIGHTON, England - British police thwarted a suspected plot to kill the Saudi crown prince in 2003, a top counterterrorism officer said Wednesday.
Officers caught a man as he tried to smuggle more than $330,000 in cash through Heathrow Airport on a flight from the United States to Syria in August 2003, said Detective Superintendent Mark Holmes, head of Britain's National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit.
Holmes said police confiscated the money but freed the man, later identified as naturalized American citizen Abdurahman Alamoudi, a Muslim activist. They said they later learned he intended to give the cash to Saudi dissidents to help fund plans to kill Crown Prince Abdullah, who has since become the Saudi king.
"We suspect this was going to be used to facilitate the murder of Crown Prince Abdullah," Holmes said, not elaborating on details of how the assassination would be carried out.
After the initial discovery of cash, British investigators found another $70,000 that Alamoudi allegedly gave to an individual in London. Police said the individual didn't know what the money was intended for.
Alamoudi was arrested in September of 2003 at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and later sentenced to a 23-year prison term for illegal business dealings with Libya.
Holmes said British police had provided information that helped U.S. investigators build their case against Alamoudi, founder of the American Muslim Council.
During his U.S. trial, details of an alleged Libyan link to a planned Abdullah assassination emerged. Alamoudi admitted to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from top Libyan officials while serving as a go-between for them and Saudi Arabian dissidents.
Americans were banned from doing business with Libya at the time.
According to a 20-page "statement of facts" filed by U.S. prosecutors, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi wanted Abdullah killed after he exchanged insults with the crown prince at an Arab summit in March 2003.
Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador from Tripoli in 2005, and asked the Libyan ambassador to leave Riyadh over the alleged Libyan plot. Libya has repeatedly denied the claim.
Both the United States and Britain have strong ties to Saudi Arabia.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.