Future 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta tries, unsuccessfully, to sell artifacts from Afghanistan. At some time this year, Atta contacts an unidentified archaeologist at the University of Göttingen in Germany and offers to sell him Afghan artifacts. He says he needs to sell them to raise money for flying lessons in the United States. But the archaeologist declines his offer. The archeologist will later tell the German secret service about the incident. [Blouin Artinfo, 1/28/2010; Art Newspaper, 2/2010; National Geographic, 6/13/2014] Atta will spend time in Afghanistan in late 1999 and early 2000 (see Late November-Early December 1999 and January 18, 2000). [New York Times, 9/10/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 166-167] He will begin taking flying lessons in Florida in July 2000 (see July 6-December 19, 2000). [US Congress, 3/19/2002; St. Petersburg Times, 7/25/2004]