Posted on 10/27/2001 2:22:17 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Hijackers' cars tested for germ spores
Delray Beach apartment may be examinedBY NICOLE WHITE, ANABELLE de GALE, AMY DRISCOLL
adriscoll@herald.com
Federal investigators have searched for anthrax spores in two cars previously owned by suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, and they are considering a similar examination of a Delray Beach apartment connected to nine of the terrorists, law enforcement sources said Friday.
The two cars belonging to the Sept. 11 hijackers, which were sold a week before the attack, were searched by the FBI on Thursday. Samples were removed from the cars and sent to a state lab for analysis. Results are expected next week.
The cars -- a red Pontiac Grand Am and another, unidentified car -- were found at a car dealership in Tamarac. The cars had been washed and waxed since they were sold to the dealership.
The vehicles are now in FBI custody. ``We decided to go back and check the vehicles and possibly the apartments,'' a source involved with the probe said. ``It took so long because we were working on other leads.''
Investigators have been divided over whether to test the cars or apartments or even the airplanes rented by the hijackers. Some law enforcement agents have said there was little point, because if spores existed in those places, people would have become sick.
But others insisted all leads need to be pursued, especially in light of information that Atta rented a plane near the offices of American Media Inc., the Boca Raton publishing house where the anthrax outbreak first occurred.
Investigators are now weighing whether to take samples from unit 1504 at the Delray Racquet Club, 755 Dotterel Rd., for anthrax testing. The apartment was rented to hijacking suspect Hamza Alghamdi by real estate agent Gloria Irish, wife of the editor of the Sun, an AMI publication.
The apartment has played a significant role in the federal probe into the terrorists' movements prior to Sept. 11. A diagram created by investigators and obtained by The Herald shows the image of a house with the address 755 Dotterel Rd. Arrows link pictures of nine terrorists, including Atta and al-Shehhi, to the icon.
All nine lived in the apartment, visited there or otherwise had a direct tie to a resident, a federal official familiar with the diagram said.
Atta is believed to have commandeered American Airlines Flight 11, the first jet to crash into the World Trade Center. Al-Shehhi was believed to be behind the controls of United Flight 175, the second jet to crash into the landmark towers. As investigators searched for connections between the terrorists and anthrax, employees of AMI learned Friday -- after nine days of waiting -- that the latest round of medical probing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered no conclusive results about their exposure to the potentially deadly germ.
The Florida Department of Health said CDC officials had worked for weeks to determine whether a change in antibody levels in the bloodstream could indicate anthrax exposure, concluding: ``The lab results remain difficult to interpret.''
The tests were done on about 400 employees and contractors of AMI, the Boca Raton publishing house where two employees were infected with inhalation anthrax, one fatally.
``It was the first time this type of test was being tried,'' said Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Health Department. ``It was an investigative tool. They were trying to pinpoint specific antibodies for anthrax and they were unable to do that.''
The recommendation to the workers? Keep taking antibiotics.
``We're telling the AMI employees the tests are inconclusive. . . . But to be to be safe they must keep taking their Cipro,'' he said.
Public health officials also said three postal employees in Miami-Dade County -- including two who were briefly hospitalized -- are being tested for anthrax exposure. They said tests so far show no evidence of the disease.
Final results are expected by Monday, said Dr. Jim James, director of the Miami-Dade Health Department. At the moment, though: ``All tests for anthrax in Miami-Dade County have been negative.''
The AMI employees were given a first round of blood tests Oct. 10. Results came back Oct. 14. Four showed elevated antibodies to fight disease, but the test didn't indicate that the antibodies were specifically fighting anthrax bacteria. The second set of tests was Oct. 17.
State epidemiologist Steven Wiersma said test results won't be divulged because the CDC has ``really backed off from what it thought it could get'' from analyzing the results.
``We had hoped for more from this blood than we got,'' he said.
Health officials consider a person potentially exposed if that person spent more than an hour in the AMI building between Aug. 1 and Oct. 7 or if anthrax spores were found in the person's nasal passages.
In Miami-Dade, the three postal workers still waiting for test results include husband and wife Lázaro and Latosha Armenteros of Opa-locka, employees at the Milam Dairy General Mail Facility, 2200 NW 72nd Ave. The couple were briefly hospitalized Thursday.
A third postal employee, not named, also is being tested. He is in his late 40s and is responsible for cleaning mail-sorting machinery at the same postal facility, according to postal union officials.
Judy A. Johnson, president of the American Postal Workers Union local, said the third postal worker had tested positive for anthrax exposure during a preliminary test performed by his personal doctor.
But James, the county health department director, said, ``There is only one definitive test for anthrax and the only place it is performed is in state labs.''
Johnson's local, which represents 3,300 postal employees from Homestead to Boca Raton, is planning to file suit Monday against the U.S. Postal Service for allegedly failing to provide an anthrax-free work environment.
Johnson called for the closure of postal facilities in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., for anthrax testing. The union chapter also wants the Postal Service to provide gloves and masks and equip the five main postal facilities in Miami with machinery to detect hazardous materials.
The U.S. Postal Service said Friday it won't close any postal facilities where anthrax has not been found, and Johnson's call was blasted by her national union's executive vice president, William Burrus.
``This suggestion that we close postal facilities is insane. Who is going to pay the employees? Who is going to service the American public?'' Burrus said.
Anthrax scares continued to close buildings Friday. The Miami headquarters of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, at Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 79th Street, was evacuated after a suspicious package was received.
The building is expected to remain closed at least until Monday.
Staff writers Beth Reinhard, Lisa Arthur, Alfonso Chardy, Lesley Clark and The Associated Press supplemented this report.
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"``It took so long because we were working on other leads.''
Makes me want to cry.
Nine hijackers lived or visited the apartment rented them by the Sun editor's wife. But "FBI and CIA suspect Domestic Extremists." What's wrong with this picture?
I can certainly understand that.... people's lives are a stake.
We don't have time for this crap.
Makes me want to cry.
Well you go ahead and cry while you panic. I doubt that they will find a "significant" amount of anthrax spores in the cars. The cars were resold a week before the attacks(9/4/01) and any reputable dealer would fumigate and clean the cars before being sold. Remember anthrax spores can be killed with a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. The solution to clean the inside of the car was probably just as strong or even stronger. Also if any anthrax contamination was in the car, the person who cleaned the car would have been the first "victim" because they would have been exposed on 9/5/01.
The same thing can be said for the apartment. I do not know the information, but if the hijackers moved out of the apartment on the same day they sold the cars (9/4/11), the management of the apartment building probably had the apartment cleaned so they could rent it again.
Seems to have fallen right off the face of the earth.
So either the feds have something that completely contradicts everything that is so far known about this case.... Or they are intentionally disinforming the public (and perhaps the suspects along with them). They may have a compelling reason to disinform the suspects, but they run the significant risk of making it impossible to hold them accountable if the disinformation continues.
It happened south of St. Cloud near mile marker 233. Trooper Albert Renard had stopped a black Nissan Maxima,driven by Alaa Ishaq Eljallad of Coconut Creek. After writing a ticket, the motorist took off and the trooper felt dizzy and collapsed, Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim Miller said.
Eljallad was later stopped in Hamilton County about 150 miles to the north, but nothing illegal was found in the car. After Eljallad was allowed to continue it was found that his visa had expired. The Georgia State Patrol has been asked to find and hold the man for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Tom Clancy could write it, and no one would believe it.
There was a report that there was a "chemical smell" in the car.
This coupled with the report of the expired visa makes one wonder what the hell the authorities are thinking!
Now if none of this happened, why try to find the car after the initial incident? On what grounds could he be pulled over?
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