Nicholas Watt and David Pallister Friday May 3, 2002 The Guardian
Britain is to lodge a protest with the United Nations based on evidence that Saudi Arabia is sheltering an aircraft which was allegedly used to supply arms to Osama bin Laden's forces in Afghanistan.
It is to ask a UN sanctions committee to investigate the allegation that the plane is parked at Jeddah airport.
The foreign office minister Denis Macshane announced the action in response to reports that the Russian arms dealer Victor Bout supplied the plane to Bin Laden in 1995.
In a parliamentary answer last night Mr Macshane said: "Prior to September 11 this aircraft had reportedly been frequently overflying Iran from Saudi Arabia to Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan. It is now reportedly parked at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia. I shall be asking that the UN investigate this very serious allegation as a matter of great importance."
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the British ambassador to the UN, will refer the allegations, which were first raised in last month's issue of Air Cargo News, to UN committee 1267, which monitors sanctions against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Britain is alarmed by the allegations, the first to imply a connection between individuals in Saudi Arabia and the supply of arms to al-Qaida.
"The fact that we are referring this to the UN shows how seriously we are taking this," a source said last night.
Saudi Arabia has been under intense pressure because of its links with al-Qaida since September 11.
Bin Laden comes from a wealthy Saudi family, and 15 of the 19 al-Qaida hijackers on September 11 came from the kingdom.
The Saudi media have reported that about 200 nationals were captured in Afghanistan fighting with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Since September 11 the Saudi regime has tried to distance itself from Bin Laden, who was stripped of his citizenship in 1994 for criticising the royal family. But individuals in Saudi Arabia have been supplying his network with money, religious ideology and followers for years.
Much of the money which financed al-Qaida came from charities which were patronised by members of the Saudi royal family.