From the mid-1990s al-Qaeda established an administration base in Dublin which is believed to have facilitated terrorists with false identification and travel documents, writes Jim Cusack, Security Editor
Garda and Army intelligence officers have been aware for a number of years that al-Qaeda had infiltrated members into the Arab Muslim community in Dublin. A number of its members were thought to be responsible for a split among members of the faith that led to the formation of a militant, fundamentalist element.
Members of this group were suspected of being responsible for arguments and a petrol bomb attack on a mosque on South Circular Road in 1999. The al-Qaeda cell in Dublin is thought not to have been more than 30 or 40 strong at any time.
Its leading organiser was an Algerian-born naturalised Irish citizen who is believed to have been one of three to five figures who worked full-time for al-Qaeda. He is still living here with his family.
It is believed al-Qaeda's work here mainly involved acquiring false documents and arranging finance transactions, mainly for foreign travel by other al-Qaeda members.
Very little al-Qaeda money is actually thought to have passed through accounts in Dublin controlled by these figures. Examination of bank accounts by gardaí after September 11th last year showed that only small amounts, to cover costs such as renting rooms and day-to-day expenses, were taking place here.
In 2000, the FBI first contacted the Garda about the activities of the Dublin al-Qaeda cell after it discovered that a man living in Dublin - and closely associated with the other al-Qaeda figures here - had shared an apartment with Ahmed Ressam in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Colombia, prior to 1999.
Ressam was arrested by US Customs at Port Angeles, Washington State, on December 14th, 1999, and 130 lbs of high explosives was found in his car. He later admitted he was planning to plant the explosives in a petrol lorry at Los Angeles Airport. He was convicted last year of conspiracy and sentenced to 27 years imprisonment.
It soon became clear that he was giving information about his al-Qaeda associates.
Shortly after his conviction his former associate living in Dublin disappeared from his suburban home in south County Dublin and has not been heard of since.
This man was named a number of times during Ressam's trial as Hamid Aich (37), who lived in Balinteer with his wife and Irish-born son. Aich has Irish citizenship.
Aich and three other men were arrested on December 21st, 2000, during the FBI investigation into Ressam's bombing plot.
During the searches, gardaí recovered a large amount of documents relating to citizenship applications, identities, credit cards and travel tickets and other documents.
During the search of an office on the South Circular Road they moved a filing cabinet and found a number of further documents hidden behind it.
These included a diagram of an electrical switch which was identical to a diagram found in Ahmed Ressam's Vancouver apartment where he had assembled the explosives and bomb intended for LAX.
The primary focus of the Dublin raid was to uncover possible involvement in the LAX bomb plot.
However, further investigation led to the tracing of telephone calls between Dublin and the Yemen in the period before al-Qaeda launched its October 12th, 2000 attack on the USS Cole killed 17 sailors.
Further links between the Dublin cell and wider al-Qaeda operations emerged after it was found that a branch of the fake charity set up by Osama bin Laden as part of his international money laundering operation, had been registered in Dublin. Bin Laden has been directly linked to this fake charity, Mercy International Relief Agency (MIRA).
The FBI has stated that MIRA offices in Somalia and Kenya were used to channel funds to the terrorists who bombed the US embassies in Nairobi and Tanzania in August 1998, killing more than 300 people.
After the December 21st arrests in Dublin, interest in the Irish-al-Qaeda connection reduced. The four arrested, including Aich, were all released without charge. The FBI indicated it was unhappy with the releases but the Garda pointed out that there was insufficient evidence to hold or charge the al-Qaeda members.
This year, during the FBI's massive investigation into the September 11th attacks, interest returned to Dublin.
It is understood the latest turn in events concerns a close associate of Hamid Aich, another Algerian with Irish citizenship who has been living in a south Dublin suburb with his family since the mid-1990s.
Travel documents found in the December 21st raid were re-examined and credit card payments led FBI investigators to a line with Mustafa Ahmed al Hisawi, an Egyptian financier said to be close to Osama bin Laden. Hisawi disappeared after September 11th and is still being sought. Hisawi is also linked to Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "20th bomber", who is awaiting trial in the US for his alleged role in the September 11th attacks.
Moussaoui was detected in August last year after he raised suspicions by seeking instruction in flying a Boeing 747 but not wanting to know how to take off or land. He left the US before the September attacks and was arrested in France on a visa offence and then deported to the US earlier this year.
Moussaoui is known to have frequented the North London Central Mosque, in Finsbury Park, London, which was used as an al-Qaeda-recruitment centre.
As part of the investigation into Moussaoui, the FBI investigators are now understood to be examining links between travel documents relating to payments made by Hisawi using al-Qaeda's Dublin offices during 1999 and 2000.
There was no indication yesterday that any immediate arrests are planned here as part of the FBI investigation which is covering the operations of the al-Qaeda cell here, fake travel and identification documents that emanated here, and the activities surrounding the fake MIRA charity.