A widening probe of Indian national with possible terrorist links (Rhode Island)
January 8, 2007
Antiterrorism officials have widened their investigation of a 28-year-old Indian national arrested last month after his behavior drew attention at a tractor-trailer school. Authorities say Mohammed Yousuf Mullawala's "problematic" cell-phone records and his apparent guise as an international student prompted the now-national probe.
"We've tied some of his cell-phone records to people of interest nationally" whose behavior points to "terrorist indicators," said state police Maj. Steven O'Donnell. "They're not your typical person's cell-phone history ... the volume of contacts obviously raises the level of suspicion."
"We don't know whether he's a major player, a minor player or any type of player" in the world of terrorism. "But the indicators lead us to believe that his behavior is not normal," O'Donnell said. "We are working with wherever the phone numbers take us, and to whatever cities," said O'Donnell. That includes New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and elsewhere in the country. "We are interviewing everybody and anybody that may have a relation to him."
Investigators are still studying Mullawala's laptop computer for possible leads, and following his paper trail. Mullawala's interest in purchasing software on hazardous materials and his lack of interest in learning to back up a rig drew the attention of the trucking-school owners, and eventually, the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Mullawala has been held at the Suffolk County Detention Center in Boston since Dec. 5 on a civil immigration charge of violating his student visa. The investigation now involves the Rhode Island State Police Fusion Center (a conglomerate of law enforcement overseen by state police) and reciprocal fusion centers in other states; the FBI's Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force and the federal Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mullawala faces an immigration hearing at which time "we will ask that he be deported," said O'Donnell. A warrant was also issued for his arrest on a criminal charge of identity theft, alleging that Mullawala falsely said he was a Rhode Island resident in order to obtain a driver's license here, O'Donnell said. The warrant was issued after Mullawala's detention in Boston. The warrant has not been served "because he was already in prison," said O'Donnell. Regardless, Mullawala's case is a criminal investigation.
O'Donnell cited a totality of circumstances that put "a homing beacon" on Mullawala and led to the national investigation. Besides the phone records, they include his enrollment in three separate colleges; his multiple addresses - only some of which he may have lived at - and his movements between Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, and a coinciding succession of licenses in a three- or four-year period. All of these factors were discovered after his arrest.
The seven addresses include locations in Connecticut, Rhode Island, the Bronx, Queens and Long Island. "We're clear that he was here under the guise of being a student. He was not a student," O'Donnell said. "Whatever his motives were, he applied to be a student, left school, went to another school, he left school. Not only did he sign up, but never went to school."
Mullawala signed up for computer technology and/or English-immersion classes at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and the City University of New York, but apparently attended either briefly or not at all, according to school administrators and law-enforcement authorities.
The various driver's licenses and addresses are also questionable, O'Donnell said, "but the coup de grace is the truck driver's school. It's so blatantly obvious. Even a novice - a person who has no knowledge of terrorist activity - would think this is strange behavior."
Strange, O'Donnell said, in that Mullawala attended the 30-day school and left after the second day; was not especially concerned about learning how to back up a rig and sought a commercial driver's license that would allow him to transport hazardous materials.
Owners of the Nationwide Tractor Trailer Driving School in Smithfield, R.I., told The Providence Journal last month that Mullawala also came to class wearing business clothes and asked fellow students about the process for gaining FBI clearance for the hazmat license. He was also an inept driver, according to instructor Ed Mowry.
After Mullawala's arrest, investigators seized a passport at one of seven addresses tied to Mullawala. According to the passport, Mullawala is from Cotpally, India. He first entered this country on Sept 9, 2002. "He was recruited overseas by a Johnson & Wales employee to come to this country to be a student," said O'Donnell. J&W spokeswoman Miriam Weinstein said Mullawala was enrolled in the School of Technology in fall 2002 through spring 2003; whether he actually attended classes was unclear. "He said he heard about the (Smithfield) tractor-trailer school while he was at Johnson & Wales," O'Donnell said, and signed up for classes "because there was no waiting list, and the requirements to get a commercial driver's license are less than New York."
Last November, according to O'Donnell, Mullawala worked for a New York taxi-limousine service called NYC 2 WAY; another violation of his student visa. There he received W-2 forms, "and we're looking into that with the IRS," O'Donnell added. Driver-relations manager Jeffrey Kong said in a phone interview that Mullawala worked for NYC 2 Way for one month, starting in early November. His last paycheck was dated Dec. 3.
Like all of the 1,500 drivers, Mullawala was an independent contractor. He provided a driver's license, from New Jersey, and a temporary license issued last March by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. Mullawala grossed a little more than $3,300, for 82 trips. He also apparently used the Lincoln Town Car he leased from NYC 2 WAY to drive to the trucking school.
http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_nation_world/article/0,1874,ABIL_7961_5267262,00.html
Ethiopia's prime minister said in an interview published Tuesday that suspected terrorists from Canada, Britain, Pakistan and elsewhere have been among those taken prisoner or killed in the military operations in Somalia.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was quoted by French newspaper Le Monde as saying that he didn't know the exact number of prisoners in Somalia "because it changes constantly." "But many international terrorists are dead in Somalia," Meles was quoted as saying. "Photographs have been taken and passports from different countries have been collected. The Kenyans are holding Eritrean and Canadian passport holders. We have injured people coming from Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, the United Kingdom."
Excerpted
Gaza terrorists seek to use Katyushas
Jan. 9, 2007
A number of Palestinian terror cell members have recently left the Gaza Strip and traveled abroad to learn how to manufacture and effectively launch short-range Katyusha rockets, high-ranking defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Excerpted
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467688097&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Mullawala is definitely a "person of interest". Kinda like the pilots who were only interested in learning how to take off, fly coordiates, and not land.
Thanks for the ping.
ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hazmat
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1761584/posts?page=506#506
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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Mohammed+Yousuf+Mullawala%22&btnG=Google+Search
http://news.google.com/news?tab=vn&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=Mullawala&btnG=Search+News
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http://www.projo.com/news/content/DRIVER_PROBE9_01-09-07_AG3PUO3.2f614be.html
http://www.projo.com/photos/20070109/ja0109_MULLAWALA_tn_01-09-07_LI3Q6CU.jpg
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December 14, 2006
"Terrorism in Queens, NY -- the Al Muhajiroun Connection? (UPDATED: Bumped)"
UPDATE 12/14/2006 08:18
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http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=Mullawala&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d
Thanks for the ping. This is a most interesting story. He certainly is a jack of all trades.
Thanks for posting the entire article.
Mega kudos to the owners of the trucking school for their diligence.
