Wednesday, September 19, 2001
BY KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LANSING, Mich. -- A man being sought in Michigan as part of the terrorism investigation obtained duplicate driver's licenses Monday and last month, according to Michigan Secretary of State records.
Nabil Al-Marabh, 34, obtained a duplicate driver's license Monday at the Three Oaks branch in Berrien County near the Michigan-Indiana border, according to state records. He got the license on the same day federal agents raided a Detroit house with his name on the mailbox.
Al-Marabh also obtained a duplicate license from the Detroit Vernor branch on Aug. 7, state records show.
Al-Marabh first obtained a chauffeur's license in Michigan on Aug. 31, 2000. He holds a commercial driver's license and is certified to transport hazardous materials.
FBI agents were looking for Al-Marabh Monday when they raided a residence in Detroit. They didn't find Al-Marabh, but ended up arresting three resident aliens from Morocco and Algeria after discovering false visas, passports, Social Security cards and other identification, said Gina Balaya, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office.
Arrested were Karim Koubriti, 23; Ahmed Hannan, 33; and Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 21.
Koubriti and Ali-Haimoud were issued Michigan chauffeur's licenses in 2000, while Hannan got a chauffeur's license in May of this year. Koubriti also holds a commercial license allowing him to drive trucks and other large vehicles, secretary of state records show.
None of the four men own a vehicle in Michigan, although records show Ali-Haimoud owned a vehicle at one point and sold it.
According to the Boston Globe, Al-Marabh was convicted Dec. 15 in South Boston District Court of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He failed to show up to serve his sentence in March, and has been missing since.
Al-Marabh has three points on his Michigan license from four traffic offenses in Massachusetts, where he lived in the community of Dorchester between 1989 and 2000.
The offenses include a May 1996 ticket for speeding; an October 1996 ticket for speeding and disobeying a stop sign; an April 1997 ticket for improper passing; and an April 2000 ticket for disobeying a stop sign.
The three men arrested Monday have clean driving records.
To get a chauffeur's license in Michigan, drivers must take a special written test and pay a $21 fee, said secretary of state spokeswoman Elizabeth Boyd.
To obtain a commercial driving license, drivers must pay $13 for an operator's license or $21 for a chauffeur's license, plus $20 to get the commercial license. Special endorsements, such as one to transport hazardous materials, cost extra and require the drivers to pass additional tests.
Drivers must be at least 18 to drive commercial trucks within Michigan and at least 21 to drive a commercial vehicle across state lines. Those transporting hazardous materials in amounts that require posted warnings also must be 21.
The informant himself is a suspect in the failed "millennium bombing" plot last year to kill American tourists in Jordan.
Al-Marabh told his former landlord that he was a truck driver, and he is licensed in Michigan to haul hazardous waste, according to Local First News.
The suspect also has ties to the Boston area, where one of the four planes hijacked last week departed from.
Three men were arrested with false immigration papers, airport diagrams and documents relating to a military base after police raided a home looking for Nabil Al-Marabh, one of nearly 200 witnesses being sought in the investigation.