Port Angeles arrest heightens terrorism concerns
by Steve Miletich, Susan Gilmore and Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporters
A French-speaking man arrested in Port Angeles has become the subject of a widening federal investigation into suspected terrorism.
The man was arrested after he tried to enter the U.S. border at the Port Angeles ferry terminal Tuesday with what appeared to be bomb-making materials and timing devices, federal officials said. He arrived aboard a ferry from Victoria, B.C.
The man was carrying Canadian identification papers in several names, including the name of a Montreal resident, which authorities believe to be false.
His true identity has been discovered, but was being withheld. He could make an appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle today to face charges of making false statements to Customs officials.
The man had booked a room at the Best Western Loyal Motor Inn at 2301 Eighth Ave., according to law-enforcement officials. The motel is blocks from the Space Needle at Seattle Center, where tens of thousands of millennium revelers are expected to gather New Year's Eve.
The motel's proximity to Seattle Center raised concerns among law-enforcement officials, sources said.
"Obviously, it's an inference you can draw," said one federal source.
Federal officials suspect the man was part of a larger organization, and accomplices may have entered the U.S successfully before he was apprehended.
Although investigators are looking at Seattle Center, other potential targets weren't being ruled out, a law-enforcement source said. The man was carrying maps and tourist brochures for Washington, Oregon and California, according to other sources.
FBI agents seized registration and telephone records at the motel yesterday, said the night manager, who declined to give his name.
The manager said the motel received a fax from the FBI yesterday morning that included a subpoena requesting all paperwork relating to motel guests from Tuesday through yesterday. The directive included a request for lists of all phone calls made by guests during that period, he said.
An FBI representative picked up about a 1-inch-thick manila envelope of paperwork yesterday afternoon, the manager said.
The suspect, who had booked the reservation under the name he gave when arrested, had been scheduled to arrive Tuesday.
"He was a no-show," the manager said.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., the minority chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, has received an "informal briefing" on the arrest and investigation, said his spokesman, George Behan.
"We have to be very careful," Behan said. "We simply don't know what all this means at this point."
Looking for connections
Investigators have been hampered by the man's refusal to answer questions and uncertainty about his background, sources said.
Federal authorities have been on heightened alert for terrorist activity directed at Year 2000 celebrations in the U.S and abroad.
Yesterday at her weekly news conference in Washington, D.C., Attorney General Janet Reno was asked if there were any domestic threats to New Year's gatherings.
"We have no specific information about specific attacks. We must always be concerned about the possibility of an attack and take every reasonable step that we can," Reno replied.
Suspect bolted from Customs
According to federal officials, the suspect arrested in Port Angeles arrived aboard the ferry Coho about 6 p.m. Tuesday and was routinely clearing Customs when he was asked to step aside for further questioning and to make a Customs declaration.
He jumped out of the rental car he was driving and ran about six blocks into downtown Port Angeles, pursued by inspectors, said Michael Baker, the agent in charge of the Port Angeles border station.
The man tried to get into a moving car occupied by local residents before he was arrested, Baker said.
The man invoked his Miranda rights and refused to answer questions after a translator was brought in to assist, Baker said.
A search of the man's car uncovered 10 plastic bags filled with more than 100 pounds of white powder, three jars containing an unknown liquid, and four timing devices, which had been hidden in the trunk's spare-tire compartment, officials said.
The timing devices each consisted of a circuit-type board with a small Casio watch in the center, Baker said.
The materials have been sent to a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) laboratory in Walnut Creek, Calif., for analysis, an ATF spokesman said.
Preliminary tests indicate the powders found in the trunk aren't explosive, but could be ingredients that would be mixed with other materials in making a bomb, sources said.
`Generating a lot of interest'
The man was the subject of intense law-enforcement activity yesterday, with federal agents racing to gather evidence to support federal charges.
Rodney Tureaud, special agent in charge of U.S. Customs in Seattle, said the man could face charges of smuggling and making false statements.
"This could be a big-time story," Tureaud said.
FBI spokesman Ray Lauer in Seattle declined to comment.
The man, who was being held for unlawful entry into the United States, is most likely to be charged initially with making a false statement by giving a false name, with smuggling charges possibly added later, one source said.
The initial charge would ensure that the man is held while the investigation continues, the source said.
Jesse Chester, spokesman for the ATF in Seattle, said the arrest "is generating a lot of interest here. It's very concerning on the face of it, and we're taking it very seriously."
Chester added, "It's too early to say whether he is part of an organization, given that we aren't entirely sure who he is. But it is fair to say we are looking hard at that possibility."
The man was carrying a Canadian passport and two Canadian driver's licenses, believed by authorities to have been stolen. Documents found on the man showed he had recently traveled from Quebec to Victoria by commercial airline and rented car.
The man had apparently been staying in Vancouver, B.C., for about a month, but Canadian authorities believe his passport is fake and that he is of Algerian descent.
Preparing for anything
Last month, the FBI warned police chiefs nationwide of religious extremists, racists, cults and other groups that might be preparing for violence as New Year's Eve approaches.
An FBI report, called "Project Megiddo" after a millennial battle in the Bible, detailed groups that seek to start a race war, apocalyptic cults that anticipate Armageddon, citizen militias that fear the United Nations will establish a One World Government, and other groups with violent, millennial agendas.
Law-enforcement officials, who requested anonymity, said all 56 FBI field offices would be staffed by a special Y2K command post around the clock from 6 a.m. Dec. 31 through 6 p.m. Jan. 3. |
