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The article in this thread was published December 6th. This one was published a week earlier and tells a different story.

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

THE HARTFORD COURANT
November 30, 2001
MAIN; Pg. A1
TALE OF A TIP ON TERROR; FOUR ARRESTS, BUT QUESTIONS LINGER
By DAVE ALTIMARI And DAVID OWENS

It was a tip that frustrated anthrax investigators could no longer ignore.

A man had told police that on Sept. 8 he overheard two "Arab" men in a Torrington bar talking about going to New York to bring letters to "Kathy," a Vietnamese woman who would then deliver them.

The man, a Torrington resident, told police his story early this month, just days after a Vietnamese immigrant named Kathy Nguyen died mysteriously of inhalation anthrax in a New York City hospital.

Upon checking, federal investigators learned that Mohammad I. Khan, one of the men allegedly overheard in the bar, has ties to a radical Pakistani group, and that the other, Najmul Hasan, was ordered deported in 1994 but never left. On Sunday, agents from the FBI and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service swarmed their apartments. Agents in biohazard suits removed chemistry books and computers and asked questions about anthrax.

Was it finally the longed-for break in the nation's highest-profile criminal case?

Probably not.

This week, the man who told police the original tale flunked a polygraph test, according to a source familiar with the investigation, raising questions about his whole story. Meanwhile, Ayazuddin Sheerazi, 32, Irfan Ahmed, 36, and Khan, 46, all of Torrington, and Hasan, 33, of Winsted, remain detained in a Hartford jail as part of the nationwide investigation resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"[Khan] was amazed that they were taking his roommates' high school chemistry books," said Michael Moore, a Springfield attorney who is representing the four. Three are Pakistani and one is Indian.

"He couldn't understand why there were people in hazardous material suits asking him questions about anthrax," Moore said.

For investigators who apparently had dismissed the story earlier as far-fetched, the anthrax death of 94-year-old Ottilie Lundgren in Oxford made it difficult not to pursue a potential lead only 35 miles away. FBI officials would not comment Thursday.

Authorities first learned of the story concerning Khan and Hasan when Robert Janco went to police on Nov. 5 to tell them he believed Khan and Hasan were terrorists.

Janco told an elaborate story of meeting the two men in a bar on Sept. 8. He told police that Hasan seemed nervous and jumpy, and that Khan, who told people his name was Mike, tried to calm him down, saying things such as "what is up with you," and "if you get yourself in trouble, I can't get you out of it."

Hasan then talked about having to go to New York City to meet a Vietnamese woman, Janco told police. Khan joked that Hasan was dating the woman, and Hasan reportedly replied that the woman was between 50 and 60, worked at a small hospital, and "does things like mail letters for me."

Hasan intimated that he had to go see the woman, named Kathy, because he had some letters for her to mail that week, Janco told police. Hasan and Khan left the bar after playing pool for a few hours and Janco never saw them again.

After learning of the Oct. 31 death of Nguyen, 61, who lived in New York and worked at a small hospital, Janco went to Torrington police with his tale.

The information was passed on to the FBI. Janco, apparently dissatisfied with the FBI response to his story, eventually called the television show "America's Most Wanted," which contacted local FBI officials.

On Sunday night, a cadre of FBI and INS officials, and police from Torrington and Winsted, arrested the four men. They removed chemistry books from Khan's house, and also seized his computer, Moore said.

Within days of their detention, Janco, 35, failed a voluntary polygraph test, according to a source. He declined to talk about his statement during a brief phone interview earlier this week.

"No one is supposed to know about this," Janco said. "I can't talk about it. Call the FBI and ask them what's going on."

All four detained men have potential immigration problems that could keep them locked up or result in their deportation now that they have been arrested.

Khan is a member of the radical Muttahida Qami Movement (MQM) based in Pakistan, Moore said. The MQM claims that the current Pakistani government is engaged in "state-sponsored terrorism" against Urdu-speaking people, the MQM's ethnic group.

Khan came to the United States in 1993 and has been seeking political asylum ever since. He was finally supposed to have a hearing in U.S. District Court in New York on Dec. 10, but that likely won't happen now, Moore said. On Wednesday, Khan was arraigned in secret in immigration court in Hartford.

He is being held under the new laws that allow the government to detain terrorism suspects indefinitely. None of the others have been arraigned yet because the government is preparing charging documents against them, Moore said. All four are being held at the Hartford Correctional Center.

Hasan has a deportation order from 1994, but never left. He previously lived in College Station, Texas, the home of Texas A&M, one of the largest agricultural colleges in the country. Hasan married a U.S. citizen and tried to get his status changed without success, Moore said.

Ahmed entered the country on a false passport and eventually married a U.S. citizen, Moore said. He paid a $1,000 fine on the passport issue, but has been denied permanent citizenship.

Sheerazi is from India and was arrested as he tended the counter at his uncle's Coastal gas station/convenience store in Torrington, Moore said. Sheerazi's aunt, Hina Sheerazi, said he was in the United States on business and his visa expired. He applied for an extension and has a hearing scheduled for Dec. 27, she said.

Hina Sheerazi said her nephew is in the Oriental carpet business and was in the United States taking orders for a factory in India. He wanted to remain in the United States through the end of January, she said, but has not traveled since the Sept. 11 attacks because he's waiting for his visa to be extended. He arrived in the U.S. May 1 with a three-month visa.

Sheerazi applied for the extension before the visa expired and should be permitted to remain in the U.S. as he awaits a decision from the INS, Moore said. When Sheerazi was taken away, he was baby-sitting his two young cousins. His aunt and uncle arrived back at the store to find them in tears.

"The last three days have been very hard on us," Hina Sheerazi said. "My kids are so fearful, they're not going to school."

She said her nephew has no link to terrorists or terrorist organizations.

"He's a simple guy," she said. "He's taking orders for carpets."

Hina Sheerazi said having a family member dragged away in handcuffs is so embarrassing that she has not yet told his relatives in India.

"He's such a reputable person in India," she said. "A person from our family has been arrested, handcuffed. It's so embarrassing for us."

Hina Sheerazi said she doesn't know any of the other men arrested Sunday.