By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer
NBC News has obtained an FBI "Intelligence Bulletin" that warns of potential dangers from al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners who have escaped over the years from prisons around the world. The unclassified bulletin, issued on June 24 to law-enforcement officials in the U.S., says that the escapees "possibly pose a threat to U.S. interests at home and abroad," and that they "may be plotting future attacks." But it adds: "The FBI has no current, credible and reliable threat information [about them] plotting a specific attack against the U.S. Homeland."
Citing open-source press reports, the bulletin ticks off several of the high-profile escapes since 2005, including:
--The 350 Taliban prisoners who broke out of jail in Afghanistan last month.
--The terrorist who escaped from a Singapore prison by climbing out of a bathroom window. He's accused of playing a role in the Bali nightclub bombing that killed 202 people.
--The al-Qaida terrorist who slipped into a mosque and escaped Pakistani police custody. He's accused of playing a role in the thwarted 2006 plot to blow up planes headed to the U.S. from England.
--The 13 al-Qaida terrorists who tunneled their way out of a Yemen prison in 2006, and the four al-Qaida associates and lieutenants who escaped the U.S. maximum-security Bagram prison in Afghanistan in 2005.
Rising Jihadist "Celebrity"
The FBI says it is particularly concerned about one of the Bagram escapees, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who has become a prolific presence in al-Qaida-released propaganda videos. The FBI analysts say he and other escapees could rise in importance in the jihadist community and pose a threat to U.S. interests because of their "celebrity." The bulletin, labeled "for official use only," says that the escapees "pose a threat to U.S. national security because of their experience, celebrity and professed opposition to the United States."
NBC News and other media outlets have obtained dozens of these intelligence bulletins over the years. This one says clearly that the FBI has no threat information regarding any specific attacks. But it adds that the escapees are all to be considered especially dangerous "because they seek to avenge their incarceration."
