Posted on 10/24/2001 5:29:02 PM PDT by blam
THURSDAY OCTOBER 25 2001
Business-class suspect caught in container
BY RICHARD OWEN IN ROME AND DANIEL MCGRORY
ITALIAN police were investigating last night why a suspected al-Qaeda hijacker would smuggle himself halfway around the world locked inside a shipping container with its own bed and toilet.
The bizarre discovery of an Egyptian carrying a Canadian passport was made on the dockside in Gioia Tauro in southern Italy, where detectives believe they may have foiled another hijacking.
They were questioning Rizik Amid Farid, 43, about his choice of travel and why he was carrying airport maps and airside security passes for Canada, Thailand and Egypt.
Unlike most stowaways they find, Mr Farid was smartly dressed, clean-shaven and rested as he stepped from his makeshift home.
He was, his captors said, “stunned” to be found with a laptop computer, two mobile phones, cameras, a Canadian passport, other identity documents and a certificate saying he is an aircraft mechanic.
Mr Farid was found last week but it was only yesterday that police admitted their curious discovery.
Roberto Di Palma, a prosecutor, said: “He was in possession of documents and apparatus that no ordinary illegal immigrant would have been able to afford. The average illegal immigrant does not have high-tech equipment and airport security passes. The FBI has been alerted to the discovery of Mr Farid.
Like the 19 hijackers that al-Qaeda used on September 11, Mr Farid’s name is not on Interpol’s wanted list.
The successful capture of this suspected hijacker is timely for the Italians after the admission that they had allowed nine Islamic militants to abscond from bail after a legal bungle.
Police said Mr Farid was finding it difficult to explain why he was carrying a return airline ticket from Montreal to Egypt, via Rome. Investigators said that could be an “insurance policy” enabling him to reach Canada by air in case he was discovered on the ship but managed to escape.
The priority now, police said, was to authenticate his identity and discover why he was heading for Canada. Had he not been found during a security check, Mr Farid would have faced another three weeks at sea to reach Toronto.(Looks like more of these guys on the way, huh?)
Mr Farid was discovered during a “technical inspection” of a ship from Port Said that had docked at the container port of Gioia Tauro.
The container in which Mr Farid had been hidden was “very tidy and well appointed”, investigators said. It was furnished with supplies for a long journey and had a bucket which he used as a toilet.
Magistrates said they were considering a charge of “links with international terrorism”, a new offence introduced last week as part of an emergency anti-terrorism package passed by Parliament after the attacks of September 11.
Il Messaggero, the Rome daily, said it was a “reasonable inference” that his intention had been to gain admittance to an airport in Canada and perhaps commandeer an aircraft with the help of accomplices and fly it over the border to the United States.
Michele Filippo Italiano, Mr Farid’s lawyer, denied that. He said Mr Farid lived in Montreal and had Canadian citizenship. “He had fallen out with his brother-in-law in Cairo and feared he would be prevented from leaving Egypt,” he said
We have lost control of everything in our country. This must change....and I don't expect it to until someone detonates a nuke. I already see the government squirming out of a lot of the 'get tough' talk after 9-11.
Yeah, you're probably right, but then again, who would expect them to do the same thing again? This one might have been a slow leftover from the "airplane" days, but ya never know. I guess that we just have to remember that there are enemies out there that will do anything to hurt the people of this country. Including those methods tried before. They'll pick the easiest and/or least likely means of causing trouble. We just have to eliminate the easy ones and watch for the really unexpected.
We must be vigilant and watch all avenues of attack. Its not an easy task, but I wouldn't dwell on the dangers to the point of not enjoying life either. Just keep an eye open. We as a country have been a little lax on keeping our eyes open of late, I'd say.
That bucket would have made the container smell just like home for him!
On the upside, I'll bet the Italians will make this guy talk.
We need a new law:
All shipping containers must be submitted to heavy doses of irradiation before entry or opening. Kills the anthrax, you know!
Now there's an idea.
They jump off ships here in the Mobile ship channel and wade ashore practically in my front yard.
P.S. I also figured out a long time ago that we weren't really serious about the war on drugs or illegal immigration. Just ship them COD.
DOGS, is all I can think to catch the rest. Every ship, every container needs a cursory check.
What do you think osama is sitting on in his cave.
All joking aside someone has to open those things from the outside.
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