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The New York Post January 13, 2002:
WASHINGTON - As part of the al Qaeda puzzle,
they are two odd pieces investigators can't quite place.
What is known is that Ramzi Binalshibh is
dangerous and on the run, while Mohammad Belfas is outspoken and mysterious.
Binalshibh is thought to have disappeared
into Afghanistan, while Belfas has suddenly emerged in Germany.
Investigators say the pair knew each other
when they lived in northern German port city of Hamburg. And they both knew
suicide pilot Mohamed Atta.
While Binalshibh's role in the terror
attacks has become clearer, Belfas' role remains clouded.
Evidence collected by U.S. agents shows
Binalshibh would have been the "20th hijacker" on Sept. 11, except that he was
repeatedly denied entrance into the United States.
Their investigations show Binalshibh tried
to enroll in the same Florida flight school used by the hijackers, and is
suspected of wiring money to them.
They say Zacarias Moussaoui, set for a
death-penalty trial in October, was Binalshibh's replacement but got arrested on
immigration charges before he could take part in the suicide operation.
Belfas' story is a little fuzzier. Like
Binalshibh, the 55-year-old Muslim cleric associated with a group of Hamburg
Muslims who included the hijackers.
Belfas worked with Atta at Hayes Computing
Service in Hamburg. He recently told an Indonesian magazine, Tempo, he believes
Atta is still alive.
The FBI initially listed Belfas as a
possible "contact" to Osama bin Laden and agents scrambled around the world to
talk to him. Belfas claims he doesn't know bin Laden but told Tempo, "Clearly he
[bin Laden] has good intentions for Islam."
Belfas said he believes the FBI has been
watching him for three years, although he hasn't been charged.
An FBI official said: "We are continuing to
investigate" Belfas.
Belfas, who was born in Indonesia and raised
in Yemen, came to the United States for a few weeks in October 2000 with a
younger Indonesian, Agus Budiman.
Budiman has been charged with ID document
fraud.
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