According to spokespeople at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that agency is searching for Aafia Siddiqui, a former Brandeis student who earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2001, for an alleged connection to al Qaeda. According to an article in the April 21, 2003 issue of U.S. News and World Report, the FBI chose to seek information on Siddiqui after Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is thought to be the mastermind of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, identified her as a "fixer"-someone who provided logistical support and performed money transfers for al Qaeda.

Siddiqui is listed on the FBI Web site as wanted for "information."

The site states that "although Aafia Siddiqui's current whereabouts are unknown, the FBI believes she is currently in Pakistan. Although the FBI has no information indicating this individual is connected to specific terrorist activities, the FBI would like to locate and question this individual."

A suspicious activity report filed by Fleet Bank with the U.S. Treasury Department was obtained by the FBI, according to the Boston Herald's April 9 edition.

The report states Siddiqui and her husband, Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan, bought high-tech military equipment from Black Hawk Industries and Brigade Quartermasters. The account further speculates that the two may have been plotting terrorist attacks at their home in Mission Hill in Boston. But the two are now estranged.

Black Hawk Industries and Brigade Quartermasters sell combat equipment and tactical gear such as assault vests, gun slings, and night goggles to civilians. Khan bought body armor, night-vision goggles, and military manuals, the Herald also reported.

Siddiqui and Khan made an $80,000 wire transfer to a financial institution in Pakistan, according to the Herald, which cites Fleet Bank's report. This particular financial institution is Under U.S. speculation for being a source of terrorist transactions.

Fleet's statement also noted that the Saudi Arabian government made a money transfer totaling $20,000 to Abdullah al-Reshood, who lived in the same Boston apartment as Siddiqui and Khan.

FBI representatives and spokespeople at both the Boston field office and Washington headquarters refused to comment on Aafia Siddiqui's whereabouts.

"It's an ongoing investigation and we are still trying to locate her," the Herald quoted an FBI spokesperson in Boston as saying. The spokesperson that that she does not believe that there are any "sleeper cells" operating in Massachusetts.

Khan, Siddiqui's estranged husband, was also identified by Shaikh Mohammed as an Al Qaeda operative, according CNN.com.

Mohammed, who was captured in Pakistan last year, was listed on the agency's Web site as one of the most wanted terrorists thought to have been involved in a "conspiracy to kill nationals of the United States."

Siddiqui, a mother of three, received her undergraduate degree in biology and anthropology/archeology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995. There, she received the Carroll L. Wilson Award for her work on "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women." She was also a participant in the "City Days" program at MIT which brought MIT students into Cambridge schools in order to assist teachers and science clubs.