Posted on 10/15/2001 1:35:43 PM PDT by CommiesOut
Iraqis plead not guilty in U.S. hazmat license case | |
PITTSBURGH, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Two Iraqi men arrested in a crackdown on hazardous material haulers after last month's hijacked plane attacks pleaded not guilty Monday in U.S. District court to charges of obtaining illegal commercial drivers licenses. The men, Kamel Albred, 33, and Haider Alshomary, 29, were arrested in Texas Sept. 26 and have been held without bail on charges of illegally obtaining the licenses through a middleman who bribed a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation worker. Albred and Alshomary were among 21 men of Middle Eastern origins arrested when U.S. authorities tightened scrutiny of hazardous material shipments after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The licenses allow the holders to transport hazardous materials. The case was not tied to the attacks, which left more than 5,400 people dead, federal officials said. Alshomary and Albred are Iraqi refugees who came to the U.S. after the 1991 Gulf war, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas. The Pennsylvania state worker, Robert Ferrari of Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, has been indicted on federal charges of illegally providing commercial driver's licenses to 20 men, all of whom have been indicted. The suspect's allegedly purchased licenses from a Pittsburgh middleman identified as Elmeliani Benmoumen. All but three of the suspects are free on bond in their home states of Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Teitelbaum. The other, he said, is Hussain Sudani, 33, whom a federal magistrate ordered held without bail in Seattle for making what she called "inflammatory" comments. ((New York Newsroom 646-223-6280)) 15 OCT 2001 20:19:19
You don't need a gypsy to tell you where this is going.
WHEN are we going to come to our senses and realize THIS IS WAR?
these guys are free on bond, when the president is saying that truck bombs of hazmat are the next likely attack method. What was their bond, and who was their bondsman, I wonder?...
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