Paul Redfern
6 September 2002
London — A key suspect in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam has been arrested and extradited to the US.
According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, Sheikh Ahmed Salim, a 33-year-old Kenyan, who had a $25 million price tag on his head, was arrested in Pakistan in July.
While US and Pakistani officials have not commented on the arrest, the report quoted Pakistani intelligence sources as saying they had picked out Sheikh Salim from a number of suspects arrested in a slum area in Karachi, the country's capital.
The Guardian, which today carried a report on the key suspects wanted in connection with the August 7 bombing and the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, said Sheikh Salim had become an important Al Qaeda figure, directing and funding Islamist militants in Pakistan.
Pakistani intelligence agents reportedly tracked down Sheikh Salim through his satellite telephone detected by the FBI. Thousands of dollars, fake passports and visa stamps were found in his house.
Sheikh Salim, who is originally said to have operated a trucking business in Kenya, is accused of having bought the lorries used in the 1998 bombing. But he left Kenya for Karachi five days before the attack. While the US has not publicly commented on the report, the Pentagon has a policy of not naming suspects in military custody to keep Al Qaeda guessing.
An unnamed US intelligence official told The Guardian he had "nothing to substantiate" about the arrest.
Sheikh Salim is on the US list of the 22 most wanted terrorists. The White House released the list a month after the September 11 attacks.
An earlier report of Sheikh Salim's arrest turned out to be false. Kenyan police initially said last December that he had been arrested in Mandera.
But the suspect was released a few days later after it was established that he had been incorrectly identified.
Additional reporting by Kevin Kelley in Washington
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