Arrest In Bin Laden Case

A sixth suspect linked to the alleged terrorist mastermind behind last year's U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania was arrested this week on perjury charges, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Ihab M. Ali, whose citizenship was not known, was charged Wednesday with perjury after arriving in New York, the Times reported. The charge was apparently leveled in an unusual closed hearing in federal court, the newspaper said.

Federal authorities declined comment Saturday on the Times report. "We are not saying anything about this," said Joe Valiquette, an FBI spokesman. A call to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan was not returned.

Public court records contain no charges against Ali, reportedly a resident of Orlando, Fla. It is extremely unusual for anyone to be charged secretly in U.S. courts.

Little information was available about Ali, who is thought to be in his 30s. The Times reported that he was probably being investigated in connection with a broader probe of bin Laden, and is not necessarily linked directly to the Aug. 7 embassy bombings.

Also Wednesday, Ali Mohamed, a naturalized U.S. citizen and former Army sergeant, was accused of training members of bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist organization and of helping move bin Laden from Pakistan to Sudan in 1991.

He also allegedly provided training to a group of Islamic militants who were later implicated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and in a plot to blow up New York City landmarks.

With Ali's arrest, six suspects in the bin Laden investigation are known to be in custody in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Another eight suspects, including bin Laden himself, have been charged but have not been apprehended. Another suspect is awaiting extradition from Britain.