Osama bin Laden flew to London in 1986 to help negotiate the purchase of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles to be used by Arab fighters then battling the Soviet military in Afghanistan, according to a new book on the bin Laden family.

Osama and Salem bin Laden met several times with the contacts at the luxury Dorchester hotel in London, according to The Bin Ladens, by journalist Steve Coll. “Don’t do any jokes with my brother,” Salem, it is said, told the others. “He’s very religious.”

The deal for Russian SA-7 missiles was arranged via “contacts” with the German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, through an associate of bin Laden’s half-brother, Salem, the book says. It suggests that payment for the weapons was made by the government of Saudi Arabia and that the weapons eventually were purchased in South America.

At the time of the weapons shipments, both the US and Saudi governments were supporting Afghan and Arab forces resisting the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. But while the Reagan administration supplied Stinger missiles to the Afghans, the book said that the Afghans did not want the Americans providing such weaponry directly to Arab groups that had joined the fight, including forces organised by Osama bin Laden.

“We have made no bones about our support for the mujaheddin,” Saudi Embassy spokesman Nail al-Jubeir said on Monday. “We matched the Americans dollar for dollar.” But “in terms of what was bought, I really don’t know,” he said, adding that the Arabs eventually did receive the SA-7s.

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