Harris said Naor told FBI agents he was carrying a fake identification card to “get into clubs in Miami.” The sheriff declined to answer other questions concerning the investigation that is ongoing.
Move along folks nothing to see here.
By Ron Scalf
Erwin Bureau
rscalf@johnsoncitypress.com
ERWIN — Two Israeli nationals held here without bond in the Unicoi County Jail will appear in Unicoi County General Sessions Court this morning, Sheriff Kent Harris said Sunday. Harris said the FBI ordered him to hold the duo without bond pending an investigation following a high speed chase through a remote area of Unicoi County Saturday afternoon in which the pair reportedly threw several items out of a rented Ryder truck, Harris said
. “They ignored my blue lights for two and one half miles and they were traveling 20 miles an hour over posted speed limits,” he said.
One man’s passport had expired and the other had a fake identification card, the sheriff said. By Sunday morning, Harris had identified the man who refused to give his first name as Almaliach Naor who was in the company of Shnuel Daran, 22, both from Israel and living in Miami, Fla.
“Our investigation has revealed they were on their way to Boston, Massachusetts,” Harris said. “Also, a vial of an unknown substance appears to be some kind of accelerant because when shook, it becomes warm,” he said.
“I enlisted Ed Herndon, our homeland security officer, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol to run (preliminary) tests and the FBI has asked we package the vial up and send it to a crime lab. which we are inthe process of doing.”
A combing of the confiscated Ryder Truck “produced an odor of a liquid on a side panel of some kind that we will also send to the lab,” Harris said. “Other than that, the truck was clean,” he said.
Harris said his department worked through the night on Saturday positively identifying Naor and working with Interpol officials who late last night told the sheriff the two were not on any international wanted lists. Harris said the men entered the United States from Israel in January. It was not known what type of visas they were granted.
Harris said Naor told FBI agents he was carrying a fake identification card to “get into clubs in Miami.” The sheriff declined to answer other questions concerning the investigation that is ongoing.
Records at Unicoi County jail indicated Naor and Daran will face charges today on counts of criminal impersonation, reckless driving and lying to authorities about throwing items out of the truck, which they rented a short distance away in Mars Hill, N.C. Harris said the men told authorities they were moving furniture.
Following their arrest Saturday afternoon, the sheriff said he “had a sick feeling” when he found a “Learn to Fly” brochure in the truck, especially since the county is home to the Nuclear Fuel Services plant not far from downtown Erwin.
“This is still a very suspicious case,” Harris said Sunday as he reiterated the comment he made Saturday concerning the matter: “We’re living in a very different time. We all need to be vigilant when it comes to homeland security.”
They were stupid enough to shake it? What if it was a vial of something like mercury fulminate?
Harris said Naor told FBI agents he was carrying a fake identification card to “get into clubs in Miami.” The sheriff declined to answer other questions concerning the investigation that is ongoing.
Move along folks nothing to see here.