Osama stayed connected to al-Qaeda through ‘special method’ without Internet access

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Washington, May 12: Osama bin Laden had managed to stay connected to his network worldwide through a painstaking system despite having no Internet access in his Abbottabad hideout in Pakistan.

A counterterrorism official said bin Laden’s method helped him to stay in touch with his followers without leaving any digital fingerprints behind.

The al-Qaeda chief reportedly used to type a message on his computer without an Internet connection, save it using a thumb-sized flash drive, and pass it on to a courier, who then used to go to a cyber caf‚ in a far away place and plug the memory drive into a computer. He then used to copy bin Laden’s message into an email and send it, and also copy an incoming e-mail and return it to him.

Bin Laden managed to fool foreign intelligence officials for so long though this method.

Around 100 flash memory drives obtained by US Special Forces from bin Laden’s house revealed how he used to archive his conversation with his associates around the world.

Al-Qaida operatives are known to change email addresses, so it’s unclear how many are still active since bin Laden’s death. (ANI)