They may have more attacks in mind!
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FBI: Identities of Some Hijackers in Question
FBI Director Robert Mueller
Thursday, September 20, 2001
FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged Thursday that authorities have questions about the identities of several of the 19 hijackers whose names the FBI released last week.
"We have several hijackers whose identities were those of the names on the manifest, we have several others who are still in question," Mueller said in Shanksville, Pa., at the site of the crash of United Airlines Flight 93.
Saudi officials have told U.S. officials that as many as four people in their country with similar names or identical names to the hijackers are alive and that some fear their identities may have been stolen.
A list of 21 hijacking suspects sent to banking officials Wednesday by the FBI also suggested that one of those identified may still be alive.
The FBI asked bank officials to use the list to search for any financial transactions involving the suspects. The list mostly included the names of 19 Middle Eastern men previously identified by the FBI as the suspected hijackers. But the list identified one of those, Khalid al-Midhar, as possibly alive.
In August, al-Midhar was placed on a watch list after U.S. intelligence received information that a man with that name had been seen meeting with associates of accused terrorist Usama bin Laden in Malaysia, officials said.
By the time al-Midhar's name was added to the list, U.S. officials believed he already had entered the country. His name was listed on the manifest of the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Pentagon.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were exploring several possibilities. One was that al-Midhar never entered the country and his name was simply used as an alias by one of the hijackers who died. Another possibility was that he allowed his name to be used on the flight by another hijacker, so that U.S. officials might assume he died, giving him time to escape the country. A third was that he did in fact die in the crash as a hijacker.
The Los Angeles Times quoted an unnamed law enforcement official in Thursday's editions as saying FBI and CIA officials were advised in August that as many as 200 Islamists with terrorist leanings were slipping into this country and planning a major assault on the United States.
The advisory, passed on by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, cautioned that it had picked up indications of a large-scale target in the United States and that Americans would be very vulnerable, the official said. The paper said it is not known how U.S. authorities reacted to the warning.
The CIA denied that Thursday. "That is utter nonsense," said spokesman Bill Harlow.
Another Arrest
Meanwhile, a Middle Eastern man on the FBI's list of people wanted for questioning in connection with last Tuesday's terror attacks was captured Wednesday outside Chicago, the FBI said Thursday.
Nabil Al-Marabh, 34, was arrested Wednesday night in suburban Burbank, Ill., at a convenience store, FBI spokesman Ross Rice said. He said he was being held on a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service request and a warrant issued in Boston for assault with a knife.
The owner of the convenience store, 7 Days Food & Liquor, Walid Beitouni, said Al-Marabh had worked there several days as a clerk.
Beitouni said he was stunned Wednesday night when FBI agents entered the store with guns drawn and arrested Al-Marabh. He said he asked what the clerk had done and was told by an agent: "He's involved in something you don't want to know about."
Beitouni said Al-Marabh had told him he was living with an uncle nearby and shown him a Canadian drivers license. He said the man had been asking for a job for several weeks.
Only minutes before the FBI arrived on the scene, Al-Marabh had said that agents might be looking for him, Beitouni said. Beitouni said he then asked him to leave, saying he wanted no trouble with the law.
Federal agents had been looking for him since at least Monday. That day, they raided a Detroit house with Al-Marabh's name on the mailbox and arrested three men after discovering false visas, passports and other IDs, as well as what appeared to be a diagram of an airport flight line.
The FBI list that Al-Marabh is on includes about 190 suspects, potential associates of the suspects, and potential witnesses related to the attacks, the FBI said.
While agents were in Detroit on Monday, Al-Marabh was in Three Oaks, in the southwestern corner of Michigan near the Indiana state line, getting a duplicate driver's license, state authorities said.
In December, Al-Marabh pleaded guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Boston. He stabbed his roommate in the knee during an argument in May 2000.
"If this wasn't America, I'd kill you," Al-Marabh said before stabbing Arafat Abjib, 32, according to court documents.
He received a suspended sentence of six months, but he failed to comply with the terms of his probation when he did not show up for a meeting. On March 15, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
During the raid in Detroit on Monday, federal agents found a cache of documents and arrested Karim Koubriti, 23, Ahmed Hannan, 33, and Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 21, on charges of having false immigration papers. The men were identified as resident aliens from Morocco and Algeria.
Agents also found a planner with handwriting in Arabic, according to court papers. The planner included information about an American base in Turkey, the "American foreign minister," and Alia Airport in Jordan, the FBI said.
President Bush's Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
Investigators also found what appeared to be a diagram of an airport flight line, including aircraft and runways, according to the court document, which did not identify the airport.
The FBI did not say where Al-Marabh was from; his former landlord in the Boston area, Marian Sklodowski, said Al-Marabh told him he was Palestinian.
All four men hold chauffeur's licenses in Michigan, according to state records. Al-Marabh holds a commercial driver's license and is certified to transport hazardous materials. Koubriti and Al-Marabh also hold commercial driving license endorsements allowing them to drive trucks and other large vehicles.
About 115 others are being questioned in the rapidly expanding investigation into last week's attacks.
More Attacks Planned?
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday that concerns are ongoing regarding further attacks.
From the information they've gathered, authorities are becoming more and more certain that a second wave of violence was planned by collaborators, with Sept. 22 an important date in the evidence.
Tuesday's attacks were "part of a larger plan with other terrorism acts, not necessarily hijacking of airplanes. Those acts were going to occur in the United States and elsewhere in the world," said Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Prime Suspect
Late Wednesday, a senior government official with knowledge of the investigation told Fox News the vast majority of the evidence still points toward bin Laden and his associates.
Bin Laden, the multimillionaire Saudi extremist suspected of sponsoring a worldwide terrorist network, recently warned of massive attacks against the U.S.
The Taliban has asserted that bin Laden is not behind the attacks, citing a lack of resources. They also warned of "revenge" if Afghanistan is attacked.
Early evidence, including communications between bin Laden supporters discussing Tuesday's attacks, indicated the hijackers were tied to the suspected terror mastermind.
Usama bin Laden
On Tuesday, Japanese, German and American investigators were looking into claims of suspicious stock selling ahead of the suicide strikes in New York and Washington.
Investigators were reportedly focusing their attention on the possibility that bin Laden's contacts predicted their attacks would send markets reeling worldwide and profited by short-selling stocks.
Officials also said authorities were gathering evidence about four terrorist cells that may have had prior involvement in earlier plots against the U.S. Those include the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa and the foiled attack on U.S. soil during the millennium celebrations, all of which are linked to bin Laden.
Fox News' Carl Cameron, Rita Cosby and the Associated Press contributed to this report. |
