This b@stard's telephone number was listed in the San Diego Telephone Directory!
By Catherine Wilson
Sept. 14, 2001
MIAMI (AP) The Coast Guard detained two cruise ship passengers Friday as their ship approached port after a four-day trip, and the pair was turned over to immigration and FBI agents.
Law enforcement agencies and Carnival cruise line would not say whether the detentions were tied to Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
Immigration and Naturalization Service agents were questioning the detained people, whose names were not released.
No arrests had been made about three hours after the ship docked, agency spokeswoman Judy Oriheula said. The agency did not initiate the boarding request, she said.
In Daytona Beach, about 240 miles north, a strip club manager interviewed by the FBI said that three men spewed anti-American sentiments in a bar and talked of impending bloodshed the night before terrorists struck New York and Washington.
Coast Guard law officers arrived on Carnival's Fascination ship at 3:15 a.m. EDT, when the 2,050-passenger ship was about 20 miles south of Miami. Carnival's security staff helped the agents detain the pair, Coast Guard spokesmen said.
The two passengers were removed from the ship about a half-hour after it docked at its usual terminal at 6:30 a.m., said Petty Officer Robert Suddarth. They were turned over to the FBI and INS agents.
INS spokesman Rodney Germaine had no comment on the incident, saying the investigation was ongoing. Orihuela said FBI agents were present but not involved in the questioning.
The 2,050-passenger Fascination, one of the cruise line's larger ships, was returning from a four-day trip to Cozumel, Mexico, and Key West. Carnival planned a standard same-day turnaround Friday for a three-day cruise to the Bahamas with a new load of passengers.
The Coast Guard announced Thursday that it planned to have boats escort all cruise ships and tankers in and out of the world's busiest cruise port and maintain a 100-yard security zone around the ships.
Several Coast Guard cutters are patrolling off the mouth of the port as a heightened security measure in response to Tuesday's attacks, he said.
Port Everglades also increased security for cruise ships scheduled to use the Fort Lauderdale port this weekend. INS screening is planned for all passengers.
Federal agents were investigating on several fronts in Florida, searching homes and rental car documents and poring over flight school student records across the state.
John Kap, manager of the Pink Pony and Red Eyed Jack's Sports Bar in Daytona Beach, said three men predicted Tuesday's mayhem to a bartender and a patron.
"They were talking about what a bad place America is. They said 'Wait till tomorrow. America is going to see bloodshed,"' Kap said.
He said he told FBI investigators the men in his bar spent $200 to $300 apiece on lap dances and drinks, paying with credit cards. Kap said he gave the FBI credit card receipts and a business card left by one man and a copy of the Quran that was left at the bar.
While investigators pieced together evidence, two former Florida flight school students were identified by German authorities as terrorists aboard the two planes that smashed into the World Trade Center.
Hamburg investigators said Mohamed Atta, 33, and Marwan Alshehhi, 23, had studied at the Technical University in Hamburg and were from the United Arab Emirates. Both men received pilot training at Huffman Aviation, a flight school in Venice, Fla., where FBI investigators are examining student records.