Patrick Tyler of the New York Times is reporting from Washington: "In the first days after the attacks on Sept. 11, the Saudi Arabian ambasador to Washington, Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, supervised the urgent evacuation of 24 members of Osama bin Laden's extended family from ther United States fearing they might be subjected to violence."

" The young members of the bin Laden clan were taken under FBI supervision to a secret assembly point in Texas and then flown to Washington, from which they left the United States on a private charter plane when airports reopened three days after the attacks."

The bin Laden family has extensive investments in the U.S. including the hi-tech telecommunications industry. The family's assests include properties in Florida, Texas, and New England: a $2 million stake in Carlyle Group, a Washington-based investment bank that specialises in defence and aerospace companies; a 6 percent stake in Hybridon Inc., a Massachusetts biomedical company; and investment ties with enterprises such as Citigroup and General Electric.

Harvard University has been the recipient of million dollar grants which coincided with the graduation from Harvard of one of Osama's nephews.

There is no word yet whether these companies or organisations will be investigated by the FBI or CIA as part of the crackdown of financing or involvement in global terrorism.