Posted on 09/19/2001 1:46:35 PM PDT by newzjunkey
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19 -- Federal investigators are finding more potential links between San Diego and last week’s terrorist attacks. They are reportedly checking whether a United Airlines flight to San Diego may have been targeted for hijacking, and they are trying to determine if a jailed La Mesa man is the brother of one of the World Trade Center terrorists.
The Dallas Morning News report says law enforcement officers in Texas detained a San Antonio doctor in connection with the a possible plot to hijack a flight to San Diego. The investigators say Dr. Al-Badr Alhazmi may be linked to the two men removed from an Amtrak train in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. Those two men were taken into custody with more than $5,000 in cash and box cutters similar to the ones used as weapons in the hijackings on Sept. 11.
Dr. Alhazmi reportedly used his credit card to purchase three seats on United Airlines on Sept. 22. The tickets were for Flight 525 from San Antonio to Denver, transferring to Flight 1185 to San Diego.
The article says the names on the tickets were Ebtehal Alhazmi, Entsar Alyusef and Afan Alhazmi.
The date of the flight, Sept. 22, is a coming up repeatedly in the worldwide investigation into the hijackings. Officials are trying to determine whether a second wave of attacks were planned for that date.
Alhazmi, whose last name is similar to that of one of the men identified as a San Diego-based terrorist, was in his final year of residency at the University of Texas Health Center. The 34-year-old doctor did not show up for work on Sept. 11, the day of the attacks on the East Coast.
Details regarding the investigation into whether the San Antonio to San Diego flight was targeted for hijacking were sketchy. A confidential FBI list of possible associates of the suspected East Coast hijackers includes five people -- including Alhazmi -- who apparently had reservations on the flight, according to the Los Angeles Times.
FBI agents are also attempting to determine if an inmate at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in South Bay is the brother of one of the World Trade Center terrorists, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. They want to know if inmate Sascha Atta is the brother of Mohammed Atta, who has been named as one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Sascha Atta was sentenced last June to five years in prison on charges of insurance fraud related to an auto repair shop he owns in La Mesa.
Margot Bach of the Department of Corrections told the Union-Tribune that FBI agents informed prison officials they believed Sascha and Mohammed Atta are brothers.
Bach said Sascha Atta had been separated from other prisoners for his protection after the deadly attacks last week and that FBI agents planned to interview him.
So far, federal agents have detained 75 people for questioning on immigration violations who are suspected of being involved in the attacks.
Report: Flight To San Diego Targeted By Hijackers
Five Suspects Booked On Flight From San Antonio To San Diego
Posted: 9:36 a.m. PDT September 19, 2001
Updated: 12:30 p.m. PDT September 19, 2001
SAN DIEGO -- Federal agents are investigating whether a United Airlines flight scheduled to land in San Diego on Sept. 22 may have been targeted for hijacking, 10News reported.
FBI agents are also attempting to determine if an inmate at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in the South Bay is the brother of one of the World Trade Center terrorists, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Agents investigating last week's attacks on the East Coast have arrested San Antonio radiologist Al-Badr Alhazmi, 34, as a material witness. He was booked on a United Airlines flight originating in Texas and scheduled to arrive in San Diego this Saturday, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Alhazmi, whose last name is similar to that of one of the men identified as a San Diego-based terrorist, was in his final year of residency at the University of Texas Health Center. He did not show up for work on Sept. 11, the day of the attacks on the East Coast.
Details regarding the investigation into whether the San Antonio to San Diego flight was targeted for hijacking were sketchy. A confidential FBI list of possible associates of the suspected East Coast hijackers includes five people -- including Alhazmi -- who apparently had reservations on the flight, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The flight has been canceled, The Times reported earlier this week.
"We are working closely with the FBI and will not release any information related to the investigation," Jenna Ludgate of United Airlines told The Times.
In San Diego, agents were looking into whether prison inmate Sascha Atta is the brother of Mohammed Atta, who has been named as one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Sascha Atta (pictured, left) was sentenced last June to five years in prison on charges of insurance fraud related to an auto repair shop he owns in La Mesa.
Margot Bach of the Department of Corrections told the Union-Tribune that FBI agents informed prison officials that they believed Sascha and Mohammed Atta are brothers.
Bach said that Sascha Atta had been separated from other prisoners for his protection after the deadly attacks last week and that FBI agents planned to interview him.
The search for local associates of the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attacks intensified after the arrest on Sunday of a man who allegedly gave financial support to two San Diego-based terrorists.
FBI agents tracked the man through local bank records, 10News reported. The man, whose name was withheld, was arrested on Sunday night.
"(He) was an associate, friend and facilitator for the two of them," a federal official told the Union-Tribune, referring to Nawaf Alhamzi and Khalid Al-Midhar.
Alhamzi and Al-Midhar, along with another man with ties to San Diego named Hani Hanjoor, have been identified as hijackers.
Authorities said that Alhamzi, 25, Al-Midhar, 34, and Hanjoor, 29, lived for a time in Clairemont and Lemon Grove in the year leading up to Tuesday's attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.
While in San Diego County, the men apparently sought training as pilots and may have attended at least one community college, FBI Special Agent Erika Foxworth said.
Authorities said that the man arrested on Sunday is believed to be a national of a Middle Eastern country. They traced him through bank accounts other financial records.
The man was arrested somewhere in San Diego County and was being held on immigration violations while prosecutors gather evidence against him, according to 10News.
Meanwhile, in Irvine, Calif., several men with possible ties to the hijackers have been questioned by federal agents, according to 10News.
The FBI stopped the men Monday night as they were loading a moving van in front of their apartment building.
The men told their neighbors they were University of California Irvine students from Yemen.
Their apartment was searched, but they were not arrested, 10News reported.
So far, federal agents have detained 75 people for questioning on immigration violations who are suspected of being involved in the attacks.
"Thou protesteth too much," is the thought that crossed my mind when I watched the segment.
That'd be this guy:
Suresh Patel, who owns the Pin-Del Motel on Washington Boulevard in Laurel [, MARYLAND], said Nawaq Alhamzi paid him $32.19 cash for one night's stay on Sept. 1.
Alhamzi was on board American Airlines Flight 77, which smashed into the Pentagon, killing 64 persons on board and 124 in the military headquarters. He has listed addresses in San Diego, and Fort Lee and Wayne, N.J.
Mr. Patel said Alhamzi stayed in Room 7 with another man he could not identify and the two arrived without a vehicle. He said Alhamzi provided identification that listed his place of residence as New Jersey.
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