U.S. Holds Suspected 20th Hijacker
washingtonpost.com
By John Solomon
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, September 14, 2002; 10:32 AM
WASHINGTON –– Halfway across the globe, U.S. authorities have finally captured a terrorist fugitive who may have intended to be the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11. Closer to home they have arrested five men suspected of being part of a terrorist cell in a quiet suburb of Buffalo, N.Y.
The twin victories in the war on terrorism ended a dramatic week in which Americans commemorated the one-year anniversary of the suicide hijackings that killed 3,000 and were asked, for the first time, to move to the second highest state of terrorist alert.
In Pakistan, a raid and gunfight this week in Karachi nabbed Ramzi Binalshibh, officials disclosed Friday. Binalshibh was a roommate of hijacking leader Mohamed Atta in Germany; the FBI believes he was originally intended to be the 20th hijacker before he failed to enter the United States.
Germany's interior minister, Otto Schily, said Saturday he would seek the extradition of Binalshibh to Germany, which had issued an international arrest warrant for the alleged terrorist. It was not immediately clear how Germany's extradition request would affect U.S. plans for Binalshibh.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, attending a meeting of the 15 European Union justice ministers Saturday in Denmark, did not directly address the developments but cited increased cooperation with the EU countries on terrorism.
"We're discussing the possibility of an unprecedented agreement on extradition and mutual legal assistance between the EU and the United States," Ashcroft said.
The capture by CIA operatives and Pakistani forces ended a one-year global manhunt for Binalshibh, who authorities alleged provided money and logistical support to the Sept. 11 hijackers after he couldn't join them in the states.
Meanwhile, FBI agents raided several locations Friday evening in the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna, N.Y., arresting five Americans of Yemeni descent on suspicions they were part of a terrorist cell operating on U.S. soil, officials told The Associated Press.
The Justice Department scheduled a 2 p.m. EDT news conference to discuss the developments, with Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, FBI Director Robert Mueller and New York Gov. George Pataki.
Officials said that while they had evidence of contacts with foreign terrorists and possible training, there was no evidence the men arrested in New York were in the midst of launching an attack.
A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Justice Department plans to charge the men with providing material support and resources to terrorists.
U.S. officials said the discovery of the cell was connected to information that also prompted the Bush administration to raise America's terror alert to "code orange" – the second highest – on the eve of the Sept. 11 anniversary.
One senior government official said one of the men arrested in Buffalo is linked to Omar al-Farouq, a senior al-Qaida figure captured in Asia this summer, who has provided his interrogators specific information suggesting that terror cells in the region were planning attacks on U.S. facilities.
The official did not say how the two were associated.
The official said the information provided by al-Farouq that led to the higher alert does not stop with the five men arrested in Buffalo. "There are other reasons we're at orange," the official said, without elaborating.
The Buffalo-area men were on U.S. soil for years and lived just a few blocks from each other, the official said, but were discovered through recent investigation and intelligence suggesting they were part of a terrorist cell.
Mayor John Kuryak of Lackawanna, N.Y., said he was informed six months ago that the FBI was doing an investigation there of a national security matter.
"We're concerned as a community," said Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello.
The arrest of Binalshibh was a major coup for U.S. authorities who have searched for him for months. Officials said he was not wounded during the capture.
Binalshibh was frustrated in his attempts to receive a visa to enter the United States in 2000, where, U.S. officials allege, he planned to join the other 19 hijackers. Instead, he provided financial support to the other hijackers, officials said.
An Arabic language Web site that focuses on developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan published a statement Saturday on the reported arrest of Binalshibh, implying that it may have been linked to an interview with the Arab satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera.
Ibrahim Helal, Al-Jazeera's editor-in-chief, denied any link between Binalshibh's apparent arrest and his station's interview.
Binalshibh, 30, was born in Yemen. He was being sought by the German government for his role in the Sept. 11 attacks.
He is considered an aide to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, believed to be the mastermind of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings that left nearly 3,000 dead, officials said. Mohammed is still at large.
Officials declined to discuss Binalshibh's whereabouts, or whether he was providing information to authorities.
To catch him, police commandos fought a pitched battle with al-Qaida suspects holed up in an apartment Wednesday, with combat spilling out onto adjoining rooftops, officials said. They said two suspects were killed and several more captured in the fighting, as Pakistan stepped up pressure on the remnants of the terrorist movement.
At least six officers were wounded when police stormed the top-floor apartment and the rooftop where the gunmen held out against hundreds of troops in the street and on the roofs of nearby apartment blocks, they said. Two of the wounded were reported in critical condition.
U.S. personnel were not hurt in the raid, American officials said.
According to the U.S. grand jury indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui, an alleged conspirator in the Sept. 11 attacks, Binalshibh applied four times for a visa to enter the United States from May to October 2000, but was rebuffed each time.
After being denied a visa for the third time, Binalshibh allegedly began funneling money to associates inside the United States. He wired money to Moussaoui, to at least two hijackers and to a Florida flight school at which one of the hijackers was training, the indictment said.
Authorities believe Binalshibh fled Germany for Pakistan before Sept. 11. German authorities had issued an international arrest warrant for him.
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