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Mideast link to car bomb appears to fade; TERROR IN THE HEART OF AMERICA
EXAMINER NEWS SERVICES
The San Francisco Examiner NEWS; Pg. A-17
April 21, 1995, Friday; Second Edition
DALLAS

excerpts from the article........

Three men of Middle Eastern extraction were detained and questioned by authorities in Dallas and Oklahoma City Thursday after media reports said the license plates of the car they were driving may be linked to a truck associated with the bombing.

But by day's end, officials discounted their significance to the Oklahoma City case. "It's not as strong as we initially thought it was," one said.

One of the three detained men, since released, told his story to the Associated Press.

Anis Siddiqy, 24, a cab driver from New York City, said his brother, Asad R. Siddiqy, 27, and an acquaintance, Mohammed Chafi, were in Oklahoma City seeking immigration documents for an emergency return to their Mideast homeland when they were arrested Wednesday.
Siddiqy said he needed the documents to get home because of a family matter. He refused to be more specific or identify his Mideast homeland.

Siddiqy said he was arrested Wednesday at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport while trying to rent a car so he could join the others in Oklahoma City.

Earlier that day, police raided an apartment in Dallas that was being rented by two of the men. A copy of a search warrant left in the apartment showed that a black bag, containing clothing, a calendar and an address book was seized.

The items were sent to a federal lab for testing after a bomb -sniffing dog indicated they may have been exposed to chemicals used in explosives, officials said.

The man's two acquaintances were picked up Wednesday night soon after they had asked an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer for directions. The tag number recorded from their vehicle by the trooper was allegedly traced to a blue Chevrolet Cavalier rented by one of the men from National Car Rental at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a law enforcement official said.

The Cavalier was found with one of the men Thursday morning at an Oklahoma City motel, the official said.

The man said he was questioned for 16 hours and given a lie-detector test before being released Thursday. Chafi was also released Thursday, but his older brother remained in custody.

Federal officials have denied that suspects were taken into custody in Dallas.

Dallas police spokesman Jim Spencer referred requests for comment to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

CNN said the three men suspects had stopped to ask an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer for directions Wednesday, and the officer was suspicious enough to write down their car's license plate number. The license number was registered to a rental car -- a car other than what the men were driving, the network said.

In New York, a law enforcement source told The Associated Press that one of the three, Asad R. Siddiqy of New York, was a suspect in the bombing. Siddiqy is a cab driver in the borough of Queens.

CNN said Siddiqy was arrested in Dallas, along with Mohammed Chafi. The network said a brother of Siddiqy was arrested in Oklahoma.