Al-Qaida porn: Terror group hid plans in sex video, reports say
Al-Qaida documents discovered by German cryptologists last year—which included planned future terror plots—were found inside a pornographic video carried by an alleged operative, CNN, citing Germany's Die Zeit newspaper, reported on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's killing.
The future plots—including a plan to seize a cruise ship, and another to carry out gun attacks similar to the Pakistani militant shootings that killed 164 in Mumbai in 2008—were found inside an adult film (called "Kick Ass") and in a file marked "Sexy Tanja" on memory cards hidden in a 22-year-old Austrian man's underwear last May. The man, Maqsood Lodin, was interrogated by police in Berlin after returning from Pakistan via Budapest, CNN said. His name was on a terror watch list when he was detained.
More than 100 al-Qaida documents, including PDFs of terror training manuals and files labeled "Future Works," were uncovered by German investigators several weeks later.
In one vague terror plot uncovered by investigators, cruise ship hijackers would put hostages in orange jumpsuits—like those worn by terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay—and videotape their executions.
Lodin and Yusuf Ocak, who was later arrested in Vienna, are on currently on trial in Berlin for alleged terror activity.
While the documents lack specific dates or names for terror targets, Die Zeit reporter Yassin Musharbash told CNN they show al-Qaida—long stymied by Western intelligence—is under significant pressure to carry out a major attack, in Europe or the United States.
It's not the first time al-Qaida and porn have been linked in headlines. In the fallout following bin Laden's death, it was revealed that the terror leader had a stash of pornography in his hideout near Islamabad, Pakistan, when Navy SEALs killed him.
U.S. officials told Reuters the pornography recovered in bin Laden's compound consisted "of modern, electronically recorded video" and was "fairly extensive."
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