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Hotlink to Terror? Feds raid Boston Area computer firm suspected of links to al Qaeda
Brian Ross
ABCNews.com December 6, 2002
Dec. 6 — Federal agents have raided a Boston-area computer software firm looking for evidence that the company, which does business with key government agencies including the FBI, might have links to Osama bin Laden's terror network.
The Quincy, Mass.-based firm, Ptech Inc., makes software and is allegedly secretly owned by Qassin al-Kadi, one of 12 Saudi businessmen accused of funneling millions of dollars to al Qaeda.
U.S. government investigators told ABCNEWS that there are fears al Qaeda may have had access to some of the government's most closely held secrets through the company, which provided computer software for the FBI, the Navy, the Air Force and the agency that handles nuclear weapons security.
Just before midnight Thursday, in a driving snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast, a team of U.S. Customs agents raided the firm's Quincy offices.
The raid was the result of a six-month-long, top-secret investigation by the Customs service, coordinated by the National Security Council at the White House amid concerns that the company was secretly owned and controlled by al Qaeda activists or sympathizers.
A White House official said that while the White House was informed, it did not play an active role in the probe.
The agents intend to be at the company's offices all day, and they brought their own computers with them to download files from the firm's computers.
Agents could be seen inside the Ptech headquarters, searching the offices and going through the company's computers.
As of this morning, there had been no arrests of anyone associated with Ptech.
The company's Web site reveals a list of customers that is a who's-who of sensitive government agencies, including the Naval Air Systems Command, NATO, the House of Representatives and the Department of Energy, which handles security for nuclear weapons and material.
Looking for a ‘Back Door’
Officials believe Ptech is linked to one of bin Laden's alleged money men, a Saudi multi-millionaire named Qassin al-Kadi.
Qassin al-Kadi Qassin al-Kadi, a Saudi multimillionaire who is on a CIA list of people suspected of helping finance al Qaeda. (Reuters)
Al-Kadi has repeatedly denied any connection to bin Laden, but he is on the U.S. government's so-called "dirty dozen" list of leading terror financiers who are being investigated by the CIA, and his accounts have been frozen by the United States.
In an interview last year with ABCNEWS' John Miller, al-Kadi denied sending any money to bin Laden. "To hear such an accusation had been put on myself, this is a complete mistake, a big one," he said.
American officials say al-Kadi and the other businessmen on the CIA list all have business and personal connections to the Saudi royal family.
The Customs investigation has been given the highest priority inside the goverment and for the last few weeks, government agencies have quietly been searching their computer software to see if there are any hidden bugs or "back doors" that would make it easy for terrorist hackers to break in.
FBI officials told ABCNEWS that the bureau bought software from the company to use in overseeing administrative functions such as purchase orders. The FBI has checked the software for electronic bugs and found none, the officials said.
Investigators said it could take weeks or even months to go through all the files that will be downloaded from Ptech computers.
Ptech officials could not be reached for comment.
ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
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