THE German authorities are investigating contacts between a Briton being questioned over the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airlines and a key figure in the September 11, 2001, terrorist cell.

Intelligence sources said that, at Britain’s request, they were examining possible links between the suspect and Said Bahaji, the computer expert in the Hamburg cell that planned the suicide hijackings in 2001.

Bahaji shared an apartment in Hamburg with Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker, and Ramzi Binalshibh, the planner of 9/11. He fled Germany for Pakistan a week before the attacks in New York and Washington and has never been caught.

The global financing of the alleged airline plot is also assuming increasing significance as investigators piece together the mechanics of the operation.

The Charity Commission, the Government’s charity watchdog, said that it was treating allegations that money raised to help victims of the Kashmir earthquake had been diverted to terror cells as “an immediate priority”.

The commission said that it would look into the activities of Crescent Relief, a registered charity based in Ilford, East London, which was involved in the relief effort last year.

One of its founding trustees was Abdul Rauf, the father of Rashid Rauf, 25, who is being held in Pakistan and named as a “key suspect” in the ongoing inquiry.

Rashid Rauf left Britain for Pakistan after the murder of his uncle, Mohammed Saeed, 54, who was stabbed to death in Birmingham in April 2002. No one has been convicted of the murder.

Another of Mr Rauf’s sons, Tayib, 21, is being questioned by the anti-terrorist squad in London after being arrested in Birmingham last week.

The destination of money raised in Britain for the Pakistani organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which carried out extensive relief work in Kashmir, will also be examined.

JuD is an offshoot of the extremist group Lashkar-i-Taiba and has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organisation. It has no formal structure in Britain, but receives funds from a strong support base within the Kashmiri community. Hundreds of young British jihadis have received guerilla training at Lashkar-i-Taiba camps in Pakistan.

Abdullah Muntazer, of JuD, said that the allegations against the organisation were baseless. He added: “We condemn every kind of terrorism, whether committed by states or individuals.”

Muslim community leaders told The Times that large amounts of money were raised at mosques after the earthquake last year. Some of that was taken to the stricken region in the form of suitcases full of cash, creating opportunities for fraud or siphoning off of funds.

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