Beverly Busson, the Mounties' commanding officer in Vancouver, said at the news conference, "This has been a worldwide investigation with extremely challenging logistical problems."

The Journal subsequently conducted a worldwide investigation of the causes and significance of 9/11, using contacts it had developed while covering business in the Arab world.

Investigations conducted by adoption detectives have potential to result in lengthy arduous or convoluted worldwide investigations across international borders and geographic regions.

A heist this huge, with its ties to political fixers and the dope cartel, cries out for a worldwide investigation to match its scope.

Mr. Meyer's arrest contributed "vital information to the worldwide investigation into the network's reach," said a statement from the American Embassy here.

Incredibly, despite a worldwide investigation under way, the U.S.D.A. only last week issued $500 million in new export credits to Iraq.

The arrests are part of a worldwide investigation that has so far identified almost 1,000 individuals involved in a child pornography ring.

Mr. Fazazi's name has not surfaced previously in the worldwide investigation of the attacks on Sept. 11, and he remains a mysterious figure.

The metal has yielded no clues to a crime so far, nor has a worldwide investigation turned up any intelligence pointing to a conspiracy to destroy the plane.

In the subsequent worldwide investigations over six years, many threads of the plot were uncovered.