We also took on tyres for helicopters jet oil and spare engine parts

We also took on tyres for helicopters, jet oil and spare engine parts.”All our flights were overnight. We went off for rest and when we came back the aircraft was already loaded. When we landed at Kandahar, the plane was taken over to the military side of the airport for unloading.” As Ariana’s commercial passenger schedule came close to collapsing under the pressure of ferrying cargo around the region at short notice, Ariana began flying al-Qa’ida militants in and out of Afghanistan. “We brought all nationalities from the Gulf to Afghanistan; Chechens, Arabs and others,” Mr Hashimi said.Many al-Qa’ida operatives also travelled around the region dressed in Ariana uniform “It was very simple,” Mr Hashimi said.

“In the Emirates you needed only the uniform and a form called a General Declaration, which could easily be duplicated. Sometimes they only wanted to see the Ariana ID card – a very simple card, easy to fake Ariana gave a lot of people these false ID cards. People would come on board wearing the uniform – you’d say: “Who’s he?” and they’d say “Oh, he’s a friend of the minister”. What could you do? We would put his name on the General Declaration. Sometimes we flew with 10 crew, sometimes 27.”This efficient, well oiled transportation machine served al-Qa’ida loyally for two years, according to Mr Hashimi, until UN sanctions last year barred Ariana from flying out of Afghanistan. After that, Mr bin Laden apparently turned to other charter services flying out of Sharjah for his needs.But, according to Sayed Hashimi, Mr bin Laden’s most extravagant use of Ariana occurred even before the Taliban arrived in Kabul.”This was the mujahedin time,” he recalls, before the Taliban.

Some Sudanese men came to the office and went up and down saying they wanted to charter a plane They wanted to fly to and from Khartoum. I was the captain of this charter – it was a new destination and every pilot wanted it because there was extra money, but I got it.”The flight turned into an epic because it involved over- flying Saudi Arabia, but the Sudanese clients failed to produce permission from the Saudis until the last minute. “We went to Khartoum finally and the Sudanese said, ‘the cargo is not ready yet, wait’. They put 79 seats on the plane then told me they wanted to put on about 90 passengers. I said, without seats I wouldn’t take them, though somehow they found the extra seats and fitted them. Then they filled up the hold with all their possessions, clothes, mattresses, three-wheeler rickshaws, old motorcycles, everything. And the plane filled up with men in robes, women in burqas, and lots of children.”We were stuck at Khartoum for three or four days waiting again for the Saudis to give us permission to over-fly.