NewsCenter 5's David Boeri reported Wednesday morning that sources say at least four suspects, described as Middle Eastern men, arrived late to the airport, purchased one-way tickets and paid in cash for them, all of those factors being known security risk flags.
He said security personnel are trained to question late-arriving passengers who pay in cash for tickets. Two of the suspects had first-class tickets and another had a seat in coach. There appears to have been two teams consisting of a total of five to six men.
Sources are also telling NewsCenter 5 that two of the men arrived from Maine, taking the Yarmouth ferry, and that the white Mitsubishi the investigators have impounded had been traveling between Logan and Springfield, Mass., in recent days.
Boeri reports that investigators say there is a known connection between groups in Springfield and the plotting of the USS Cole bombing last year.
Sources said that documents were found inside luggage in the Mitsubishi Mirage that had Virginia license plates, including an information manual in Arabic on how to fly a 767 and a copy of the Koran and a fuel consumption calculator.
The suspects also reportedly had airport employee ramp badges and crew uniforms, which were left in a suitcase that did not make it onto the plane.
The car was moved to an out-of-town FBI garage for processing last night.
NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu says that the rental car was in and out of the central parking garage several times in the past week. An airline crew identification tag was found in or around the car that may be connected to one of the suspects, WCVB reports. The crew tag ramp pass, which allows employees access to the airport, may be for either United Airlines or American Airlines.
Investigators in Boston are looking for members of a local terrorist group affiliated with Osama bin Laden.
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While the FBI has refused to comment on any possible suspects, a number of past reports link Boston-area members to bin Laden's terrorist organization.
In February, the Boston Globe reported on a pair of former taxi drivers investigated for their alleged involvement with terrorist plots financed by bin Laden.
Another former cabbie -- Raed Hijazi -- lived in Everett, Mass., for several years and was sentenced to death just last year in Jordan for plotting a terrorist attack.
There also are two Boston residents counted as members of a Montreal-based bin Laden cell. Authorities intercepted that group before it could set off a millennium bomb in the U.S.
American Flight 11 from Boston was hijacked after takeoff from Logan Airport en route to Los Angeles Tuesday morning and later crashed into the World Trade Center. Ninety-two people were on board, including the pilot, John Ogonowski, 52, of Dracut, Mass.
United Airlines officials said that Flight 175, bound from Boston to Los Angeles, also crashed into the World Trade Center.