Posted on 03/31/2002 11:29:47 AM PST by Mom_Grandmother
Pakistane Crewman Arrested In Texas Sat. Mar. 30, 2002
WASHINGTON--One of four Pakistani crewmen who jumped ship in a Virginia port was arrested Saturday in Texas, immigration officials said Saturday.
Ahmad Salman's arrest was based on leads by Immigration and Naturalization Service investigators at a bus station in Norfolk, Va., agency spokesman Bill Strassberger said. Those leads took INS special agents to Philadelphia and eventually to San Antonio.
After being put under brief survellance, Salman was arrested at midday without incident at a San Antonio apartment building where he was staying with an acquaintance, Strassberger said.
Salman was beng held without bond pending further proceedings.
The case prompted demands for stricter security because of reports that an immigration official improperly allowed the men to come ashore. An INS inspector failed to get authorization before granting a special waiver allowing them off the ship, according to Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Waivers given to foreingn crewmen lacking visas must be approved by senior INS district officials.
The men disappeared, though none were thought to be dangerous, INS officials said. The three others were identified as Mohammad Nazir. Adnan Ahmad and Ghulam Qadar.
The disappearance was the latest imabrrassemnt for the INS, which has been under intense scrutiny since the Sept. 11 attacks exposed problems with methods for tracking foreigners.
The Pakistanis were crewmen aboard the "Progresso," a Russian cargo ship sailing under Maltese flag that docked in Norfolk on March 15.
GEE I have some research to do...
BBL...with more facts.
By Kevin Johnson, Toni Locy and Richard Willing, USA TODAY 9-18-01
The FBI has arrested a San Antonio doctor who investigators say might have provided technical or financial support to at least one of the teams of terrorists whose hijackings killed an estimated 5,000 people last week. Albader Alhazmi, 34, a Saudi national, is being held by federal agents in New York as a "material witness" in the hijacking probe, law enforcement sources said Monday. That means he is thought to have information that is important to the terrorism investigation. FBI agents seized computers and other records from Alhazmi's home and a library at the University of Texas Health Science Center, where he is a radiologist in the final year of a 5-year residency. University officials were stunned that their mild-mannered colleague was arrested by agents investigating the attacks that President Bush has called an "act of war."
Most recently, a Texas physician was freed late Monday (9-24-01) by a federal judge after being held as a material witness since Sept. 15. Law-enforcement officials have declined to say what drew their attention to the radiologist, Albader Alhazmi. But Federal Bureau of Investigation documents said he and four other men with Arabic names had made reservations on a Sept. 22 flight to San Diego.
Probably on his way to sneak over the border to Mexico. Thank heavens they caught him.
---snip--- Since the hijackings, there has been concern that further terrorist attacks might have been planned. Still, it remained unclear why the authorities were interested in the San Antonio radiologist, Al-Hazmi. Two days before he was detained, two other men on an Amtrak train bound for San Antonio from St. Louis were arrested during a routine drug sweep. The two men, Ayub Ali Khan, 51, and Mohammed Jaweed Azmath, 47, whom authorities said were carrying box cutters, hair dye and a large amount of cash, apparently remain in custody.
FBI officials this week denied news reports that the two men were intent on meeting Al-Hazmi.
Outside his San Antonio home Tuesday, Al-Hazmi told reporters, "Let us be tolerant of each other and work together and be united and learn not to hate, because hatred is evil."
"Hatred leads to certain destruction," he added. "What happened on Sept. 11 has nothing to do with any religion and has nothing to do with Islam." ---end snip---
San Atone is justashort drive down I-35 from Crawford. Know what I mean?
NEXT TARGET TEXAS? 3/30/02 (WorldNetDaily-Backroom)
A former Israel soldier now living in New York predicts that al-Qaida sleepers in the U.S.--"there are thousands of them here"--will more than likely target Texas next.
Once Osama bin Laden re-groups, count on an order going out to hit President Bush's home state," he said "That's how the operate. Bush hit them, now they'll hit him. It's personal. They'll take it to him."
Bush keeps a ranch in Crawford Texas, and his parents live in Houston. The Lone Star State also has huge oil and gas refineries and nuclear-warhead repository in Amerillo, Texas.
Crawford's mayor has told WorldNetDaily that the Secret Service has beefed up security around the ranch since Sept. 11.
He say's he's not to concerned that waves of Algerian and Syrian men have enrolled at flight schools in Fort Worth and Tyler, Texas, since Sept. 11, as WorldNetDaily first reported.
Worldwide, best estimate I've seen from a reasonable source is there's likely around 100 total Al Qaeda terror agents, some of whom are likely already in custody. That many can still do a lot of damage, but the idea there are thousands in the US is fairly ridiculous.
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