I-70 Traffic Stop Turns Up $300K In Cash, Undocumented Jordanian (Al Qaida Operative?)

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 2/22/02 | MICHAEL VIGH

[truthandlife]

Like Canadian figure skaters, Sevier County sheriff's deputies thought they had seized Olympic gold with the arrest of a man they immediately suspected as an al-Qaida operative carrying cash and drugs.

But federal authorities say they will be the judge -- and they are scoring the extraordinary catch as a routine drug bust.

But officials in the rural central Utah county are not so sure. On Tuesday, the Sheriff's Department issued a press release praising the deputies' arrest of a motorist from the Middle East country of Jordan on Interstate 70 who had $300,000 cash in his trunk.

The announcement said: "We feel very strongly that this is linked to the terrorist activities that are going on in the United States."

On the front page of Sevier County's weekly newspaper, The Richfield Reaper, Sheriff Phil Barney trumpeted: "A little inquisitiveness resulted in a tremendous success." Maybe so. But not so fast.

While not absolutely ruling out a terrorism link, federal authorities investigated and determined the man is probably nothing more than a possible drug dealer, The Salt Lake Tribune has learned.

Utah's director of public safety, Robert Flowers, who heads the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command, is willing to take the feds' word for it. "If our intelligence says it's nothing, we don't pay a lot of attention from the perspective of the Olympics."

The man, an undocumented immigrant, has not been charged with any federal or state crime, but the county is still investigating as he sits in jail on an Immigration and Naturalization Service hold, said sheriff's Deputy Charlie Ogden.

The traffic stop seemed routine. Ogden said deputies Bryant Johnson and Todd Gardner pulled over an eastbound car that had crossed over the center line on Interstate 70 near Richfield on Saturday. The vehicle contained the Jordanian man and two other undocumented immigrants, a woman and a 15-year-old boy.

The driver consented to a search of the car, Ogden said, but when officers popped the trunk, he asked the deputies to stop searching.

After a drug dog sniffed a possible illegal substance, the deputies obtained a search warrant and discovered a black suitcase containing $300,000 cash and a small amount of marijuana, Ogden said.

The sheriff believed they had collared a terrorist, and here's why:

During questioning, the driver claimed the suitcase belonged to his brother, whom he claimed has ties to a terrorist organization in Jordan. Deputies contacted the FBI and the three were taken to Salt Lake City and jailed.

The driver told officers the three had picked up the money in Los Angeles and were headed to Chicago. From Chicago, the man said, he was planning to fly to Jordan, Ogden said.

Deputies contacted the police department in La Grange, a Chicago suburb, and found that in a police report taken last year, the wife of the driver's brother had claimed her husband may have had some involvement in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

La Grange police checked the couple's computer and discovered the husband had been looking for information on terrorism before the attacks.

[blam]

"Three illegal aliens in a car with $300,000; the driver claims he's a mule for some towel headed baddies and you guys are mad at the Sheriff?"

I agree with you. If we make a mistake on an illegal towelhead, so what. Screw'em!

[weegee]

You're saying the Olympics aren't safe?

This "nothing to see here, move along" phrase is so beat. It doesn't even apply to this story. Sheesh.

Utah's director of public safety, Robert Flowers, who heads the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command, is willing to take the feds' word for it. "If our intelligence says it's nothing, we don't pay a lot of attention from the perspective of the Olympics."

The perception is that agents of terrorism are moving about under their very noses.

[GuillermoX]

Of course, it's a cover up.