AL QAEDA, the organisation established by Osama bin Laden to act as a weapon against the west, is an octopus with many tentacles. It has a confirmed presence in more than 60

countries.

Often, its operatives submerge themselves in Islamic charities or educational bodies. Others are front men for legitimate businesses dealing in everything from diamonds to tanned goatskins and peanuts.

Still others run safe houses for militants. Bologna, in northern Italy, remains a hotbed of his supporters, a legacy of the hundreds of trained Saudi, Sudanese, Egyptian, Somali, and Afghan mujahideen he despatched to fight on the Muslim side in the Balkan wars.

Italian intelligence officers investigating the bin Laden connection witnessed the regular departure of volunteers on cheap flights and dubbed the unsuspecting companies involved ''Jihad Air''. The mujahideen presence was an open secret.

According to Italy's Central Bureau of General Investigations and Special Operations, there are still up to 4000 Arab militants in the country, many with suspected connections to Al Qaeda.

Most now live in Rome and Milan and belong to 20 charity groups and religious educational centres.

A major and unsung operation by Britain's MI6 and the CIA, acting in tandem with the Italian authorities, kept bin Laden's fanatics out of the Kosovo crisis.

Dozens of Italy-based volunteers were quietly kidnapped and shipped away from the area. A number who were wanted for terrorism in Egypt were handed over for prosecution.

The Afghans running the movement of fighters from Italy via Albania into the Balkan war zone ceased their operations, although they maintain a major presence in Tirana, Albania's capital.

In Germany, home to several million ''guest workers'' of Turkish, Kurdish and Arab origin, Al Qaeda is known to have collected taxes to fund the armed struggle in Chechnya and Kosovo. Across the EU, its annual tribute is thought to be in excess of (pounds) 50m a year.

Germany's need for cheap labour before the fall of the Berlin Wall made the country the prime infiltration route for terrorists. Access was easy.

Merging with other immigrants in ghetto areas of Berlin and Hamburg was simple. Al Qaeda's punitive reach, allied to German disdain for its foreign menials, guaranteed a code of silence.

France is another key base. It has a ready-made North African Arab population in Paris and Marseilles.

London was a key financial centre. According to Jamal al-Faedi, one of bin Laden's former paymasters, Barclay's Bank became an inadvertent holder of Al Qaeda's European funds, although the bank insists it is not aware of any connection with the organisation.

Between 1995 and 1998, the organisation recruited at least 6000 young British Muslims to train as Islamic fighters.

Recruitment centred on a mosque in Finsbury Park, north London, run by an alleged former mujahideen veteran and preacher called Abu Hamza.

Eight young British Muslims were arrested in Yemen in 1998 and charged with possession of arms and explosives. They were later accused of planning to attack the British consulate in Aden.

Several are now serving long sentences. Intelligence sources link them to the Finsbury Park mosque.