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Aimen Dean, a Saudi national who went to Bosnia to fight for Al-Qaeda at the age of 16, was an expert in weapons of mass destruction as well as the terror group's complicated hierarchy.
However, the 1998 attacks rattled him, and after long soul-searching, he secretly defected to the British government and began working as a spy.
“I think that is when the horror of it started to sink in. And this is when I realised that if this is the opening salvo of this war, where is the next target? Argentina, South Africa, Mozambique? Are we going to fight Americans in Africa in order to expel them from the Middle East, from the Arabian peninsula? It just didn't make sense,” he said in a past interview with BBC.
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A past photo of Aimen Dean
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Dean's story has been told in various media, including the book "Nine Lives: My Time as the West's Top Spy Inside Al Qaeda," which he co-authored with Tim Lister and Paul Cruikshank.
In the book, Dean wrote about meeting both Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, on multiple occasions.
After the turning point, he no longer wanted to be part of the group and used a planned health check-up as a pretext for travelling to Qatar.
He was arrested but British intelligence authorities came to the conclusion that he would be an asset after he confessed.
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Working as a spy
Dean's work as a spy involved feeding Al-Qaeda's secrets to Western intelligence agencies.
He was involved in the thwarting of a number of terror attacks, and his unique intelligence insights into the inner workings of Al-Qaeda have been praised.
He traveled regularly between London and Afghanistan, having to memorize all the information he gathered behind enemy lines and relay it to intelligence authorities.
However, his career as a spy came to a dramatic end when someone spilled his secret.
Dean was in Paris on vacation when one of his Al-Qaeda comrades sent him a text with a link to a story by journalist Ron Suskind, warning, "Brother, go into hiding. There is a spy among us".
The text didn't accuse Dean of being the spy, but he believed it was only a matter of time before he was outed.
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A past photo of Aimen Dean
Dean's story has been the subject of various podcasts, videos, and news articles. His journey from terrorist to spy is a testament to the power of redemption and the human capacity for change.