Osama men tried to buy Boeing aircraft

NEW YORK, SEPT. 26. Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden's associates tried to buy a multi-million dollar Boeing 727 six months before they hijacked commercial airliners and slammed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a media report said today.

The New York Post quoted a federal investigator close to the probe as saying that someone connected to Osama was looking to buy ``a retired aircraft sometime in March''. They were was also trying to involve some Americans in the purchase of the aircraft to act as a front.

Two of the hijacked planes were Boeing 767s while the other two were Boeing 757s. The suspected terrorists found a broker in Florida to represent them in the deal, the investigator said but did not name the representatives or the dealers involved, according to the report.

It also said Osama's followers tried to hire American pilots for private training sessions.

The information, ``not specific enough'' to have thwarted the September 11 attacks, was passed on to the FBI.

The hijackers, including Mohammed Atta, took flying lessons in Florida in July last year and had logged time on a Boeing 727 flight simulator, it said.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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