A British communications firm has unearthed coded messages on the Internet which may be linked to Osama bin Laden, it emerged today.
Glasgow-based Iomart has been helping US investigators since the terror atrocities on September 11the.
The company has been using sophisticated software to search the net for so-called steganography, the system of hiding messages inside electronic images and music files.
The system of encrypting text on the Internet is thought to be used by bin Laden and his associates as a means of communication, according to Iomart.
In recent weeks, Iomart experts have unearthed hundreds of files, some of them containing Arabic text and dates which have been passed on to investigators.
Using a vast database of information on the "DNA" or electronic make-up of millions of inappropriate images - much of it pornography favoured by terrorists as a vehicle for hidden commands - experts can uncover encrypted text by breaking down the images.
The system has a database equivalent to the memory of 5,000 personal computers.
PA