Osama bin Laden's accomplice arrested

Wednesday, December 15, 1999 4:59 AM EST

ISLAMABAD, December 15 (Itar-Tass) - The Pakistani police arrested an accomplice of international terrorist Osama bin Laden, a certain Abu Ayed, a Jordanian who held a US passport. This was reported on Wednesday by the paper The News with a reference to sources in law enforcement bodies. Abu Ayed was arrested in Hayatabad the other day on suspicion of having close ties with bin Laden who is now in Afghanistan as a guest of the Taliban islamist regime.

According to the local press, dozens of bin Laden's emissaries now operate in Pakistan. Hundreds of them leave for Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo and other trouble areas.