American with Al Qaeda sheds light on shadowy world

An American who converted to Islam and fought for the Al Qaeda before his arrest in Pakistan last year is now cooperating with authorities, opening a rare window into the shadowy world of the terror network, American media reports said Thursday.

Bryant Neal Vinas, a 26-year-old from Long Island, New York, is one of the few Americans known to have made the trek to Al Qaeda's secret Pakistani compounds, US and European anti-terrorism officials told the Los Angeles Times.

He pleaded guilty in January to conspiring to murder US nationals, providing material support to Al Qaeda and receiving military training from the group, the New York Times reported.

Vinas has admitted to meeting Al Qaeda bosses and giving them information about New York commuter trains for a possible attack -- conversations that resulted in a public alert in November, said the officials, who requested anonymity.

He was captured by Pakistanis in November and is in custody in the US. He pleaded guilty in January to charges including conspiracy to commit murder for firing on US troops and providing material support to a terrorist organisation, the Los Angeles Times reported.

His court indictment was unsealed Wednesday after repeated queries about Vinas from the Los Angeles Times. Until then, the case had been a closely guarded secret at the heart of investigations in at least seven countries, the report said.

The US-born son of immigrants from Peru and Argentina, Vinas was raised a Catholic and his transformation into a fighter nicknamed Bashir el Ameriki (Bashir the American) underscored fears that some other Americans had followed the same route, the newspaper reported.

Since his capture, Vinas has been talkative and cooperative, providing a detailed account of his sojourn and testimony for upcoming terrorism trials in Europe, the officials said.

In March, he gave a statement in New York to a magistrate and police from Belgium that will be used as evidence against three jailed Belgians who admitted to training with Al Qaeda. He also has been questioned by French investigators.

Vinas told investigators he arrived at the camps in December 2007, anti-terrorism officials said. Despite Al Qaeda's fear of spies, Vinas was treated well because someone in the network's structure had vouched for him.

"He had a good reference, so they trusted him," an anti-terrorism official said.

Vinas admitted to meeting front-line chiefs of Al Qaeda operations to discuss his training and potential role in the network, officials said.

In conversations between March and November 2008, Vinas gave the leaders "expert advice... derived from specialised knowledge of the New York transit system and Long Island Railroad, communications equipment and personnel, including himself", according to court papers opened Wednesday.

A lawyer for Vinas would not discuss the charges against him or his cooperation with the authorities in the US or Europe. “We would just ask the public to withhold judgment until all the facts come out in this case,” the lawyer, Len H. Kamdang, told the New York Times.

Last updated on Jul 23^rd, 2009 at 17:39 pm IST--IANS