DNI Docs: Bin Laden Thought Iran Was Implanting Homing Devices in His Family

Included in the latest batch of Osama bin Laden papers released to the public is a letter in which he warned his sons Uthman and Mohammed that Iran might try to implant tracking chips in their bodies during medical examinations.

“If they inject you with a shot, this shot might be loaded with a tiny chip. The syringe size may be normal, but the needle is expected to be larger than normal size. The chip size may be as long as a seed of grain but very thin and smooth,” the late al-Qaeda boss warned his sons.

The Associated Press notes he issued the same warning to his wife in a letter that was part of a March 2016 document release. In that case, he fretted that Iranian dentists might have hidden a tracking chip in his wife’s tooth fillings. He was also eager for any reports from his followers about Iranians planting bugs on them.

Also of interest in the new document trove are more messages indicating that bin Laden was feuding with al-Qaeda’s branch in Iraq, which would eventually break away from the parent terror organization and become ISIS.

The UK Daily Mail cites bin Laden’s concerns that the proto-ISIS wing of al-Qaeda had become too “brutal and violent,” so other Muslims might be “alienated” from their cause.

One other interesting disclosure from bin Laden: He wrote a letter to his mother saying he missed her and that he had taken up sewing to pass the time in his Pakistani compound.