Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan (April 9, 1960 or 1969 – January 1, 2009) was a fugitive wanted in the United States as a participant in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He was alleged to have purchased the Toyota and Nissan trucks used in the attacks, flying out of Nairobi to Karachi, Pakistan five days before the assault was launched. Swedan has been on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists

FBI Most Wanted Terrorists

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted Terrorists is a list of fugitives who have been indicted by sitting Federal grand juries in the United States district courts, for alleged crimes of terrorism. The initial list was formed in late 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks...

 list since its inception in October 2001. He was born in Mombasa

Mombasa

Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

.

The UN 1267 Committee

United Nations Security Council Committee 1267

The 1267 Committee , was established on 15 October 1999, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1267 concerning Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and/or the Taliban and associated individuals and entities. The 1267 Committee is one of three Security Council committees dealing with counter-terrorism...

 refers to him as Ahmed Salim Swedan Sheikh. Sheikh may be either an Arabic surname or a title (before the name), and although it is unclear why this person would have such a title, he has also been known as Sheikh Ahmad Salem Suweidan, Sheikh Ahmed Salem Swedan, Sheikh Swedan, Sheikh Bahamadi, Ahmed Ally, Bahamad, Sheik Bahamad, Ahmed the Tall.

Swedan sometimes wore a light beard or moustache and has, in the past, managed a trucking business in Kenya.

Swedan purchased a beige Toyota Dyna

Toyota Dyna

The Toyota Dyna is a light truck for commercial use. In the Japanese market, the Dyna is sold alongside its twin called Toyoace. The original Toyoace of 1956 was an improvement over the Toyopet SKB Truck...

 truck in Nairobi, and a 1987 Nissan Atlas

Nissan Atlas

The Nissan Atlas is the name used in Japan for two lines of pickup trucks and light commercial vehicles sold by Nissan and built by UD Nissan Diesel, a Volvo AB company and by Renault-Nissan Alliance for the European market. The lighter range replaced the earlier Cabstar and Homer, while the...

 refrigeration truck in Dar es-Salaam. Six metal bars were used to form a "cage" on the back of the Atlas, to accommodate the bomb.

Rumours of capture

As the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 approached, a few unsubstantiated reports came out of Pakistan that various wanted al-Qaeda suspects had been captured in that country and handed over to the Americans without any legal process.

On July 12, 2002 a police intelligence officer in Karachi reported that Pakistani authorities had arrested Sheikh Ahmed Saleem, referring to him as an alleged financial advisor of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. He was reportedly caught along with two other al Qaeda militants. The officer further mis-identified Saleem as a Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

 national, who had apparently fled Afghanistan for Pakistan after the US-led military campaign began in October 2001. The three militants were arrested together during an overnight raid on a suburban apartment in the commercial port city of Karachi.

However, it later was suggested that Pakistani news organizations and the officials may have confused Ahmed Salim, the FBI-wanted Kenyan who had run a trucking business, with a Sudanese man with a similar name, Mamdouh Salim

Mamdouh Mahmud Salim

Mamdouh Mahmud Salim is an alleged co-founder of the Islamist terrorist network al-Qaeda. He was arrested on 16 September 1998 near the German town Munich...

. In fact Mamdouh Salim had already been captured in 1998 in Germany.

But then on September 9, 2002, the Lahore-based Daily Times once again reported that Ahmed Salim had indeed been arrested earlier that summer, on July 11, 2002, in Methadar, an area very close to the place from where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was also arrested a month earlier, according to the paper. But the same story says that KSM was captured at the same time, which is now known to be untrue.

On September 11, 2002, journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad

Syed Saleem Shahzad

Syed Saleem Shahzad was a Pakistani investigative journalist who wrote widely for leading European and Asian media. He served as the Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online and Italian news agency Adnkronos . He was found dead in a canal in North-east Pakistan, showing signs of torture, two...

 of the Asia Times wrote that back in July 2002, Pakistani intelligence agents were led to Salim's cell by satellite telephone intercepts provided by the FBI. These led to the arrest in Karachi of a more junior al-Qaeda figure, a Saudi known only as Riyadh or Riaz. Riyadh in turn led investigators to Salim, who was arrested in Kharadar in the south of the city. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 quoted two more press claims that Swedan had been arrested in July 2002, and transferred to US custody. All these claims are unsubstantiated.

There was a report in 2005 that Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

 and its neighbours had gone on alert for the presence of Ahmed Salim Swedan.

On July 6, 2007, Swedan was listed as a possible CIA "Secret Prisoner" by Amnesty International, without giving any reason or evidence, and despite the fact he remains on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list as of the published date (July 6, 2007).

On January 1, 2009, Swedan was killed in Pakistan in an American unmanned drone missile strike along with Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam

Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam

Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam was a Kenyan terrorist conspirator, wanted in the United States for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania...

at an al-Qaeda safe house.