{"id":2316,"date":"2026-09-17T16:58:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rohangunaratna.com\/?p=2316"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:58:42","slug":"an-intelligence-gold-mine-al-qaedas-jack-roche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rohangunaratna.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/17\/an-intelligence-gold-mine-al-qaedas-jack-roche\/","title":{"rendered":"An Intelligence Gold Mine: Al Qaeda\u2019s Jack Roche"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Rohan Gunaratna<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a maximum-security prison, I interviewed Jack Roche, Australia\u2019s most notorious Al Qaeda inmate.  I also met Jack Roche\u2019s Indonesian wife Afifah who genuinely cared for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roche had access to the highest echelons of Al Qaeda, including its fountainhead Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Roche described businessman turned terrorist Osama as a \u201cvery nice man.\u201d Roche also met the then head of Al Qaeda\u2019s military wing Abu Hafts, a former Egyptian policeman. Roche also met the then Al Qaeda\u2019s head of intelligence wing Saif Al Adil, a former Egyptian Colonel. Saif is the current Al Qaeda Amir or leader living in Iran. In Pakistan, Roche met with 9\/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohamed alias Mokhtar. He also met in Afghanistan other attackers such as Christian Ganczarski who bombed the Tunisian synagogue killing 21 people, mostly German tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British-born Roche suffered from an alcohol problem. After leaving three wives and three children, he arrived in Australia from East Berlin, using his birth name, Paul Holland. An Australian taxi driver and a factory worker, he quit drinking after converting to Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the rest of my article on my Substack here<\/a> or in the link below<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Full article<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a maximum-security prison, I interviewed Jack Roche, Australia\u2019s most notorious Al Qaeda inmate. I also met Jack Roche\u2019s Indonesian wife Afifah who genuinely cared for him.
\nThe FBI paid Al Qaeda\u2019s Jack Roche in cash while he was in detention. They looked after him and they have a lot of experience working with people like him. The FBI did not do anything wrong by paying him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,65,25],"class_list":["post-2316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-al-qaeda","tag-australia","tag-terrorism"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t