U.S. launches new task force to dry up money for terrorists

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration announced a new effort Thursday to isolate Osama bin Laden and other terrorists from their sources of funding, a key part of the nation's war against terrorism.

In the latest initiative, dubbed Operation Green Quest, a special team of law enforcement people with financial expertise will investigate how terrorists move their money and where.

The findings would be used by the government to freeze financial assets, seize assets, impose fines and launch legal proceedings including criminal prosecutions.

"The goal of Operation Green Quest is to augment existing counter-terrorism efforts by bringing the full scope of the government's financial expertise to bear against systems, individuals and organizations that serve as sources of terrorist funding," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Ken Dam.

"The same talent pool and expertise that brought down Al Capone will now be dedicated to investigating Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network," Dam said.

A command center will be set up at Customs Service headquarters in Washington, where leads from various law enforcement agencies will be reviewed, coordinated and assigned for investigation.

More than 30 people now working at federal law enforcement agencies will be reassigned to work on the project. A senior Customs official will serve as director, a senior IRS official will be the deputy, a senior FBI official will be on staff as will two federal prosecutors from the Justice Department.

And, around one-third of roughly 200 law enforcement experts involved in the "El Dorado" anti-money-laundering task force in New York will be directed to work exclusively on tracking terrorists' money trail, officials said. The work of the task force, which includes people from Customs, FBI, IRS and state and local law enforcement officials, has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests and the seizure of $425 million since its creation in 1992.

Underground financial systems, illicit charities and corrupt financial institutions will be among the entities to be closely looked at by special team of investigators. Other ways that may be used to fund terrorists, including counterfeiting, credit card fraud, cash smuggling and drug trafficking, also will be targeted.

The U.S. government considers bin Laden the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. His al-Qaida network has built a fund-raising operation using Islamic charities and relief organizations that attract money from wealthy donors. Al-Qaida moves its money through front companies and suitcases stuffed with cash, and by using the ancient, informal banking system known as "hawala."

President Bush has ordered the blocking of assets of 66 individuals and organizations suspected of conducting or financing terror, including senior aides to bin Laden. Since the attacks, 144 countries have joined the effort to disrupt terrorist funding.

The team will serve as the investigative arm for Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which carries out orders to freeze financial assets, and the recently created Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center, which has brought together representatives of the intelligence, law enforcement and financial regulatory agencies to follow the terrorist money trail.

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