[iwar] [fc:Investigators.rush.to.round.up.nearly.200.for.questioning]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-20 04:15:44
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 04:15:44 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Investigators.rush.to.round.up.nearly.200.for.questioning]
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Published Wednesday, September 19, 2001

MORE TERRORISM FEARED

Investigators rush to round up nearly 200 for questioning

MANNY GARCIA, DAVID KIDWELL AND ANDRES VIGLUCCI

<a href="mailto:aviglucci@herald.com?Subject=Re:%20[LEANALYST]%20ALERT:%20MORE%20TERRORISM%20FEARED-%20round%20up%20nearly%20200%20for%20questioning%2526In-Reply-To=%2526lt;a4.19f0c472.28daf9d2@aol.com">aviglucci@herald.com</a>

Federal authorities are scrambling to round up nearly 200 people with
potential knowledge of last week's attacks amid concerns that terrorists
connected to the plot may have planned further attacks as soon as this
weekend. 

One key strand of the investigation is focusing on four men who bought
tickets for Saturday on two United Airlines flights, Flight 1429 from
San Antonio to Denver and Flight 1185 from Denver to San Diego. 

One of the men, a Saudi physician doing a residency at a University of
Texas hospital in San Antonio, has been taken into custody and flown to
New York for questioning.  The other three men were being sought. 

The physician, Albadar Al-Hazmi, 34, had an ``association'' with
American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, according
to a federal law enforcement list of people investigators want to
question.  The list, a copy of which was obtained by The Herald,
provides few other details. 

But the federal document shows investigators are examining whether
Al-Hazmi may have used as an alias the name of Flight 77 hijack suspect
Khalid Al Midhar.  Two other suspected hijackers on that flight, Nawaf
Al-Hazmi and Salem Al-Hazmi, have the same last name as the doctor, the
document indicates. 

Investigators say they are concerned about the possibility that attacks
were planned for this weekend, particularly Saturday. 

``Yes, we have heard something about Sept.  22, but nothing specific,''
one source close to the investigation said.  ``We have information that
leads us to believe that there could be more attacks very soon.  The
same murky sources that indicated something might be coming in the weeks
before the attacks have indicated something may be happening this
weekend.  It is our hope that we can stop it.''

Another official familiar with the investigation said preventing further
attacks has become their first priority.  So far, the FBI has detained
75 people and arrested four as material witnesses. 

``We are hunting down these people before something else happens,'' the
source said. 

Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday investigators are looking
into the possibility of other planned attacks.  He said the FBI is
checking the possibility that suicide hijackers were on board a fifth
cross-country flight on Sept.  11 that was canceled minutes before its
scheduled 8:10 a.m.  departure from Boston due to a mechanical problem. 

U.S.  Sen.  Bob Graham, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate's intelligence
committee, said Tuesday in an interview that he was told in briefings
about the possibility of ``a series of terrorist attacks inside and
outside the United States in forms that would probably be other than
hijacking airplanes.''

But Graham warned against assuming that everyone on the federal list is
necessarily a suspect.  Some of the people on the list may have had no
more than ``very casual relationships'' with the hijackers, he said. 
Investigators also believe some hijackers may have assumed other
people's identities. 

Although the list doesn't always specify why an individual is included
on it, some on the list are linked to suspected hijackers or Internet
addresses used by them.  Others are Florida flight students from the
Middle East and people linked to a thwarted terrorist plot in Jordan
planned for millennium celebrations. 

The list even includes a former antiques peddler in Boca Raton.  Hady
Omar Jr.  was arrested in Arkansas the morning of the attacks, after
flying from Palm Beach County to Houston.  Federal authorities say he
bought airline tickets using the same Internet log on as Mohamed Atta,
who was on the first jet to hit the World Trade Center. 

Another former Florida man sought for questioning, Nabil Al-Marabh, has
alleged ties to Osama bin Laden, whom President Bush has identified as
the ``prime suspect'' in last week's attacks.  He shared a phone number
with a hi jacker on the jet that crashed into World Trade Center Two. 

Vero Beach is the town most cited on the list.  The Central Florida
resort was home at one time or another to 27 of the 68 people who have
known addresses on the list. 

Almost all of the Vero Beach men wanted for questioning are current or
former Saudi Arabian Airline flight students.  Vero Beach is home to a
school run by FlightSafety International, but it was unclear whether any
of the people on the list were enrolled there. 

A spokesman for the school said the FBI told the school that there was
no apparent connection between the hijackings and any past or present
students at the academy. 

``They've talked to half the people on that list, but they don't bother
to publish a list of the people they've cleared,'' the FlightSafety
spokesman said.  ``They just went down a list of the current class. 
Someone in the current class either had their ID stolen, or it was a
case of mistaken identity.''

Investigators are keenly interested in Al-Hazmi, the Texas doctor, in
part because they arrested two men in San Antonio on the day after the
attacks. 

Ayub Ali Khan, 51, and Mohammed Jaweed Azmath, 47, left the Newark,
N.J., airport aboard a flight headed for San Antonio about the same time
as the hijackings.  When their flight was grounded in St.  Louis, they
boarded a train to San Antonio.  Authorities who detained them found
they were carrying box cutters, hair dye and thousands of dollars in
cash, investigators say. 

Khan holds a commercial pilot's license, according to the federal list. 

Meanwhile, the FBI and other federal investigators continued serving
warrants at locations where the suspects or their possible associates
may have stayed or done business.  Agents also continued interviewing
neighbors who may have known the hijackers or their associates. 

On Tuesday afternoon, FBI agents searched an apartment at Grand Flamingo
on South Beach after receiving a tip from Miami-Dade police who were
serving an eviction notice on two men.  Officers found box cutters and
flight magazines.  Judy Orihuela, FBI spokeswoman in South Florida,
declined comment. 

 The FBI visited a Delray Beach gym where administrators believe as many
as five suspected hijackers worked out in the weeks before the Sept.  11
attacks.  Gym employees pointed out three suspects from photographs
Tuesday and said they recognized the men as members: Nawaf Al-Hazmi,
Hamzah Saleh Al Ghamdi and Marwan Al Shehhi. 

 FBI agents also interviewed a martial arts instructor at US-1 Fitness
in Dania Beach, where suspected hijacker Ziad Jarrah learned
street-fighting techniques.  The gym is less than a mile from the
apartment where Jarrah lived on Harding Street in Hollywood. 

Jarrah had a two-month membership to learn martial arts in July and
August.  When asked by gym instructors if he wanted another two-month
membership in August, Jarrah reportedly told them he only needed one
more month, according to a law enforcement source. 

Herald Staff writers David Kidwell, Alfonso Chardy, Daniel de Vise and
Larry Lebowitz contributed to this report. 

Source: http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/national/digdocs/100088.htm

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