Chapter 1076 Secret Account
Fan Danbing once helped them make old mistakes because of their cooperation with Chiang Kai-shek. "Materials business, relying on several major stock market turmoils, has made huge profits. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek's Ministry of Security's overseas investments totaled more than two billion US dollars. This amount of money was free from government supervision. Funds have become very important.
In recent years, domestic security agencies have invested relatively heavily overseas, especially in channels for obtaining sensitive intelligence. It requires a lot of money, so the role of this money is very important. Whether it is buying informants or bribing foreigners in some sensitive departments, money is indispensable.
Jiang Lue was very grateful for Fan Wubing's strong support. Therefore, Fan Wubing was able to get information about many issues within the first time. Sometimes he even knew about them earlier than the top leaders.
This time, because of what happened just now, the Americans have begun to follow up and investigate some secret accounts overseas. Especially those secret accounts that have contact or dealings with Bin Laden need to be investigated. Therefore, the intelligence agencies of various countries are located in Some overseas secret accounts need to be operated carefully at this time to avoid misunderstandings by Americans, or even being deliberately attacked by them.
After all, many accounts were shady, and Jiang Lue did not want to lose all the money he had managed to accumulate thanks to Fan Wubing because of what the Americans did. That would make him vomit blood.
Bin Laden has a huge worldwide terrorist network, and their associates span Western countries as well as the Middle East and Africa. These countries or regions include Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Philippines, Tajikistan, Kashmir, Kenya, the United States, etc.
Due to the impact of the incident, the spread of international terrorism around the world has aroused widespread concern and worry among governments and the international community. For a time, studying terrorism became a popular subject. A number of research institutions came into being, and a number of academic books and papers were published one after another. Many experts have discussed the root causes and characteristics of terrorism from different perspectives such as political science, law, military science, sociology, behavior, and psychology, and have made suggestions for solving the problem of terrorism.
Governments of various countries threatened by international terrorism increasingly regard dealing with terrorism as an important task. The new political parties and leaders in many countries have taken solving the problem of terrorism as their policy goal, and terrorism has become a serious problem that governments of all countries are determined to eliminate.
Thanks to the efforts of governments of various countries, a special force has been established to support terrorists, and laws and policies to combat terrorists have been implemented. These have effectively curbed the unlimited rise of terrorism.
At the same time, many countries around the world began to seek international cooperation, convened a series of international conferences, formulated a series of bilateral and multilateral agreements, and promulgated many international disclosures on counter-terrorism.
The intelligence agencies and counter-terrorism agencies of various countries work closely together. Through coordinated operations, a huge net to encircle and suppress international terrorism has been spread around the world. International anti-terrorist cooperation is being strengthened and efforts are being made to form a strong worldwide anti-terrorist alliance.
While stepping up its efforts to investigate Bin Laden's terrorist networks around the world, the U.S. government took a two-pronged approach to pursue and block bin Laden's bank accounts and cut off the lifeline of terrorists.
U.S. officials believe that Bin Laden was the sponsor behind the terrorist attacks. Bin Laden is also suspected of providing money and shelter to the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center towers in New York, and was the financier of a plot to assassinate former President Clinton.
Therefore, after the incident. One of the main measures taken by the United States is to cut off its financial resources by prohibiting American companies from doing business with bin Laden's companies and freezing his bank accounts, in order to curb terrorist activities.
The United States believes that Bin Laden purchased weapons, trained terrorists to ally with the organizations that protected him, and carried out various attacks. It can be said that every step requires a lot of money. Although Bin Laden has a huge inheritance and assistance from certain institutions and supporters, this money is not enough to sustain terrorist activities for a long time. Bin Laden's real source of living money is his enterprises and factories around the world.
For Bin Laden, making money in business and engaging in terrorist activities are one and the same. Saudi officials estimate that bin Laden has at least 70 to 80 front companies that he can use to cover his terrorist activities.
Sudan was Bin Laden's earliest base for doing business. U.S. government documents said that after Bin Laden arrived in Sudan ten years ago, he invested US$50 million to establish a bank. The import and export companies and investment companies he opened almost cut off the rubber produced locally. , grains, caihua seeds, sesame and other bulk agricultural products export.
In the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, Bin Laden opened a fishing company. Under the name of this fishery company, terrorists came to Nairobi many times to negotiate business. They actually wanted to detect the security situation of the US embassy.
There are many legitimate Islamic charities in the United States who complain that their reputations have been unfairly tarnished by extremist actions. U.S. officials said that part of their money ended up in bin Laden's hands, some of which they knew about in advance, and some of which was unintentional.
In order to cut off the source of funding for bin Laden's terrorists, the CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center in the Virginia suburbs established a police team to track bin Laden's financial activities and piece together his terrorist money network.
U.S. intelligence officials said. Bin Laden dispersed his huge amount of cash into secret accounts in banks around the world, and part of the funds was invested in European securities markets to make profits.
After mastering these situations. The CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center in the suburbs of Virginia established a specialized agency to focus on tracking Bin Laden's financial activities and trying to grasp the source of his terrorism finances.
Spies placed bin Laden's bank account in place. Based on intelligence provided by these agents, U.S. authorities have officially frozen all funds in the U.S. believed to be bin Laden's.
The United States also used electronic technology to intercept bank operation information and launched an electronic war against Bin Laden's property. They used various means to discover some of Bin Laden's secret accounts, and then used electronic technology to delete the accounts or change their balance of payments, so that the money in Bin Laden's foreign bank accounts no longer existed.
It is understood that those engaged in this work include relevant departments of the Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Treasury Department. They are also liaising with similar agencies around the world to investigate Bin Laden.
Others say that if you want to gain insight into a terrorist organization, you have to follow an ancient trail, like the IRS investigating tax evaders, and follow the money.
By tracking bin Laden's financial activities in recent times, U.S. intelligence agencies have begun to gradually unravel this elusive figure.
"The cunning rabbit has three holes, it's not that easy to deal with," Jiang Lue said to Fan Wubing.
While Western countries were busy trying to seize and freeze Bin Laden's property, Bin Laden told them to let them check it out. He also has at least three independent financial alternative systems in operation.
After the incident, in order to cut off Bin Laden's supply line economically, the FBI worked with investigative and financial institutions in Western countries to trace the circulation channels of Bin Laden's funds and investigate his secret accounts in overseas banks. This has become a second battlefield against Bin Laden.
But many experts believe it. Bin Laden has spread his money across the securities or fund markets, so it may not make much sense to just trace his secret accounts. Some US officials recently admitted that Bin Laden's organization has more financial resources and is more tenacious than imagined. His gang was able to regroup quickly after the network was busted. Although his bank account was blocked, he still made a lot of money from business and sponsorship.
Bin Laden dispersed his money in hundreds of bank, corporate and charity accounts in 50 countries around the world. In order to evade tracking and prevent assets from being frozen by Western countries, bin Laden has also been using underground banks active in Central Asia.
In order to quickly increase the financial resources of terrorist groups, Bin Laden's investments in recent years have become even more diversified, investing in whatever can make money. It is said that for every can of soda sold in the world, Bin Laden's wealth will increase a little. Many beverages today contain water-soluble gum arabic to prevent particulates from settling. Most of this substance is manufactured by a Sudanese company, of which Bin Laden is the majority shareholder. He may have made tens of millions of dollars from it.
Bin Laden owned several companies in Saudi Arabia and Western countries, involved in many industries including construction, oil, manufacturing and gemstones. U.S. counterterrorism officials said the United States is convinced that the main border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay is a location for terrorist activities. They obtain money through smuggling and other activities to fund terrorist activities.
The West describes Bin Laden as the chief executive and chairman of a terrorist group. He used his wealth to connect terrorist organizations around the world, provide funding to terrorist organizations in many countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and other countries. He also established terrorist military training camps in dozens of countries, providing a steady stream of resources for global terrorist activities. A constant reserve army.
Due to its abundant funds, the Bin Laden Group is generous in purchasing advanced weapons. U.S. intelligence agencies have discovered that bin Laden has been seeking to purchase nuclear weapons since eight years ago. At first, Bin Laden wanted to buy Russian nuclear warheads on the black market, but failed.
Experts point out that Bin Laden has been committed to purchasing highly enriched uranium, a necessary element for making nuclear weapons. Although he may not be able to display nuclear weapons for the time being, it is not ruled out that he will one day be able to make one. Bin Laden's assistant once met with a former senior official of a certain country to discuss the purchase of highly concentrated sodium for US$1.5 million. They also negotiated with Chechen guerrillas, trying to exchange thirty million dollars and two tons of opium for twenty nuclear warheads. Then there are plans to convert the nuclear warhead into a small suitcase nuclear weapon.
"Currently, Bin Laden's organization has at least four to five thousand people. In his arsenal all over Afghanistan, everything from mortars, rockets, tanks to advanced Stinger surface-to-air missiles are all available. Bin Laden's military strength is enough to compete with "It's comparable to a small country, and all of this was paved with Bin Laden's money," Jiang Lue said to Fan Wubing. "After the incident, the FBI immediately launched an investigation. The results showed that terrorists were here." The cost of this incident was not much, only half a million dollars. Then, the FBI immediately launched an investigation into Bin Laden's global economic network and financial channels, and worked with investigation and financial institutions in many Western countries to seize and freeze Bin Laden. various accounts.”
In fact, the finance ministers of the seven major industrial countries have reached an agreement through a conference call at this time. Agreed to cooperate in handling payments provided to terrorist groups and to jointly freeze related assets. Subsequently, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Lebanon, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Hong Kong, China and other countries and regions also expressed their opinions. Willing to cooperate with the US action to seize bin Laden's assets.
So far, financial institutions in the United States and other countries have frozen about $100 million in assets of suspected terrorists. These accounts do not directly belong to the government or its terrorist organizations.
However, the way Bin Laden handles assets and operates wealth is much more complicated and in-depth than people imagine. Since Bin Laden has dispersed his funds in the securities or fund markets, and has countless holding and indirect holding companies under various industries, it is tantamount to digging out an ant nest with complex tunnels and intricate connections to wipe out Bin Laden's economic base. It will never be clean.
Some experts suggest that the US government hire hackers to track down and seal Bin Laden's accounts. It's a good idea, but if hackers are allowed to enter the computer systems of banks and some financial organizations, it will lead to a series of legal disputes, which is also troublesome.
While the United States and other countries are trying to cut off Bin Laden's economic lifeline, Bin Laden said calmly that even if the United States freezes the assets of all organizations related to him, it will not affect the jihad they will carry out.
He told a Pakistani newspaper that they have three different independent financial systems managed by people who love jihad. These people are not hundreds of people, but tens of thousands.
"The most important thing now is to properly transfer the funds in our secret accounts." Jiang Lue said to Fan Wubing.
Fan Wubing nodded. He was also thinking about this problem in his heart, but he was thinking more about how to make these accounts more legal. After all, the Americans did not have much courage to seal up the secret accounts belonging to the Chinese intelligence department at this time. After all, these are semi-public secrets. Who doesn't have some secret accounts in other countries?
As long as it is not related to terrorist organizations like **, it is estimated that there will be no big problem. If the Americans want to take advantage of the issue, they must first consider whether they can afford to eat and live with the other party.