The financial networks Al Barakaat and Al Taqwa “did far more than move cash. The groups, with a presence in more than 40 countries, also financed the movement of arms, provided secure communications and served as a network for Osama bin Laden to transmit intelligence and instructions to terrorist cells in the loosely linked Al Qaeda organization, government officials said.”
– David E. Sanger and Kurt Eichenwald, “U.S. Moves to Cut 2 Financial Links for Terror Group,” The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2001