BUFFALO, NY, Sept 19: At least one of the six suspected members of an Al-Qaeda-trained sleeper cell in upstate New York had prior knowledge of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, a federal prosecutor told a US federal court in Buffalo on Wednesday.

Quoting from an e-mail, allegedly sent by one of the accused, Mukhtar al Bakri, prosecutor William Hochuel, said the message indicated Bakri knew about the planned attacks.

“There are people who have been having visions ... This is a very strong vision. A vision nobody will be able to bear,” the e-mail said, according to the prosecution.

The same e-mail also spoke of a meal, saying: “The next meal will be very huge. It will be so big that no one will be able to withstand it, except the people with faith.”

The e-mail was allegedly sent in July 2001, months before the terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Explaining why the prosecution opposed releasing the suspects on bail, Hochuel said: “Taking their passports away or confining them to the county or putting other restrictions on them will not help ... They are a danger to the community. If released, they may flee and fail to appear before the court.”

The suspects, he said, travelled to Pakistan, paying US$1,309 each, when they insisted they had no money and requested the court to arrange lawyers for them. He also cited two instances in which the suspects spent thousands of dollars at a local casino, Casino Niagra.

Hochuel said the six men travelled to Karachi and Quetta in Pakistan where they got in touch with Al Qaeda operatives who arranged for them to visit the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southwestern Afghanistan.

At an Al Qaeda guest house, they received religious indoctrination and listened to hate messages against the United States and Israel from Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders, he said.

According to the prosecution, the suspects then attended Al Qaeda’s al-Farooq training camp, where they received weapons training, learning how to use Kalashnikov assault rifles, long- range weapons and explosives.

One of the suspects, Sahim A. Alwan, left the camp after 10 days but others stayed to complete 4 to 6 weeks of training.