Kin of Saudi terror suspect says he's innocent
By BERT WILKINSON
Sun, March 23, 2003 FBI alert for suspected Saudi terrorist
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Guyanese relatives of a man U.S. officials have described as a possible terrorist have said they think the FBI is looking for the wrong man.
Saudi-born Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 27, showed no signs of extremism when he stayed with relatives and he was a very devout Muslim, his cousin Marzab Juman said late Saturday. "We saw no evidence that he had become radicalized when he stayed with us two or three years ago," said Juman, a businessman. "He always had the Qur'an in his hand. I don't think he has any connection with the terrorists. They are just speculating."
El Shukrijumah's father was born in Guyana and later moved to Saudi Arabia, relatives said. U.S. authorities have said El Shukrijumah may be carrying passports from Guyana, Trinidad and Canada.
The FBI issued an alert Thursday asking law-enforcement agencies and the public to be on the lookout for El Shukrijumah, who may be plotting terrorist attacks against the United States or its interests abroad.
Juman said he recognized a photograph of El Shukrijumah after the FBI distributed it to various media outlets, but he knows him as Adnan Juman, the same name as Marzab Juman's 19-year-old son.
El Shukrijumah has many aliases, including Adnan G. El Shukri Jumah, Abu Arif, Ja'far Al-Tayer, Jaffar Al-Tayyar, Jafar Tayar and Jaafar Al-Tayyar, the FBI said.
Marzab Juman said El Shukrijumah has Guyanese citizenship and a valid passport, but authorities have not yet confirmed that, saying they were still searching records. Trinidadian investigators, who said they were also reviewing databases, could not be immediately reached for comment on Sunday.
Juman said he knew El Shukrijumah as a three-year-old child, and had not seen him for more than 20 years, when he returned to Guyana to get to know his relatives here.
El Shukrijumah stayed with Juman's family for about two weeks at his home outside the capital, Georgetown. Juman asked that a reporter not disclose the exact location of his house for fear of reprisals.
El Shukrijumah left a positive impression on the Muslim community in and around Georgetown, and was invited to lead prayers and preach at several mosques, Juman said. Relatives and several worshippers at the mosques said he did not say anything negative about the United States during the prayers.
Guyana's population of about 700,000 is 10 per cent Muslim, 50 per cent Christian and 35 per cent Hindu.
One of El Shukrijumah's alleged aliases translates roughly from Arabic to English as "Jaffar the pilot," according to language experts. FBI officials said they believed El Shukrijumah had trained as a pilot, but relatives denied that.
Juman's father-in-law said he grew up with El Shukrijumah's father, Gulshair Muhammad El Shukrijumah, 73, and he also met the son.
"This whole thing must be a mistake," S.M. Hassan said. "He never told us he was a pilot and we don't believe he is."
U.S. authorities were working to establish links between El Shukrijumah, suspected of being part of the al-Qaida terror network, and other terror suspects including alleged "dirty bomb" plotter Jose Padilla.
El Shukrijumah lived in South Florida at the same time as Padilla, an American being held in a U.S. military prison on charges of being an "enemy combatant." Padilla, a former member of a Chicago street gang and a Muslim convert, is suspected of planning to detonate a "dirty bomb" that would have spewed radiological material into the air.
The elder El Shukrijumah lives in Miramar, Fla., and said last week his son is not a terrorist and does not know Padilla. When they last spoke five months ago, the son was teaching English in Morocco, El Shukrijumah said.
The younger El Shukrijumah disliked the American lifestyle and was offended by women wearing skimpy clothes, but his father insisted that would not translate into his harming Americans.