By Oliver Poole
(Filed: 05/06/2004)

The failure of the British and American security services to act on leads that might have helped prevent the September 11
terrorist attacks is starkly exposed by their investigation of Niaz Khan.

Eighteen months before the attack on the Twin Towers the former curry waiter from Burnley entered an FBI office in New
Jersey and told startled agents he had been trained to hijack a plane and fly it into a building.

His tale of al-Qa'eda training camps equipped with mock Boeing aircraft was carefully noted by two FBI counter-terrorism experts, and filed away.

Though he passed two lie detector tests, his allegations were ignored as too fantastic to be believed.

After three weeks of questioning two agents flew him to England where he was handed over to security officials. After a day in custody he was released and forgotten.

Mr Khan's story is impossible to confirm independently. It is a tale of a disaffected youth addicted to gambling who says
he was enticed by Osama bin Laden's henchmen to their bases around Lahore, Pakistan.
In return he was to receive money to pay off debts crippling his family.

He provides a detailed account of being taught hijacking techniques and how he was subsequently sent to America in April 2000 to meet a contact who would instruct him on his suicide mission. On the flight to Newark he says he panicked, and once in the United States approached the authorities.

What is certain is the failure to investigate properly what in America is now being considered one of the most important
potential warnings of the September 11 attacks.

On his return to Britain Mr Khan, now 29, was released and allowed to travel to his home in Oldham. To his "astonishment"
no further questioning occurred.

After the September 11 attacks the American authorities contacted the British security services demanding he be
re-interrogated but did not receive an official reply. Mr Khan, having seen the attacks on television, called the
Crimestoppers hotline. He was told to contact his local police station where he was interviewed for half an hour.

The case has now been detailed in the US Senate and investigated by the American 9/11 Commission. Lawyers for the September 11 victims have visited Britain to interview him.

Mr Khan said yesterday: "No one took any action. If I had been white maybe they would have listened. But nobody cared."

origine de l'info http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/05/wcia105.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/05/ixnewstop.html