Posted on 11/17/2001 9:20:58 PM PST by Pericles
November 16, 2001; Many security officials are convinced that the next wave of attacks will come from truck bombs (a favorite of al Qaeda) rather than more airplanes. Police found that Nabil al-Marabh (linked to bin Laden) had attended a truck driving school and had obtained a permit to haul hazardous materials. When police went to arrest him, they found two Arab immigrants who had also attended truck driving schools. Further investigation found 18 Middle Eastern men in Pennsylvania, all of whom had licenses for large trucks and hazardous materials. There are estimated to be 770,000 trucks on the road in the US every day with hazardous materials (gasoline, nuclear waste, chemicals, explosives), including 50,000 gasoline tankers (each of which carries about 10,000 gallons, the fuel load of a trans-continental airliner. Trucking companies have been warned to check everyone who has a hazardous materials permit. Truck driving licenses are fairly easy to get, and in many states a hazardous materials license requires only passing a multiple choice test of ten questions.
Typical scenario: a Honda Civic driver darts in front of a truck and nails the brakes.
I think CC's analysis in #21 is exactly the reason why.... I think we clamped down so hard in the days & weeks after 9/11 (think of the hundreds of people still being detained)--in ways we probably can't even imagine (at least I hope so)--that it has seriously impaired their ability to get anything done, and perhaps even their will to do it.
For example, there's a story in the Ottawa papers up here about a guy who's money transfer shop was shut down. It looks like a very honest small business, right here in downtown Ottawa.
Unfortunately the article is sympathetic to him ("If you send your mom money, is that supporting a terrorist? He's quoted as saying), but apparently Al Quaeda or other terrorist groups got a portion of every transfer that was made. That's just one example, and it happened all over the world.
56 charged in license-selling scheme
Thursday, November 08, 2001
By Mike Bucsko, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A scheme by a former state driver's license examiner to sell bogus licenses was so well-known that people came to the State Office Building Downtown from across the state to buy them, Attorney General Mike Fisher said yesterday.
Thamer H. Aldiwan of East Liberty drops his court papers while running away from a television cameraman after his arraignment yesterday on charges of obtaining a fraudulent driver's license. (Lake Fong, Post-Gazette)
Many of those charged in purchasing the licenses were of Middle Eastern descent, including 20 who were indicted last month on federal charges. Some of those defendants were also charged with illegally obtaining permits to transport hazardous materials.
However, Fisher and U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan repeated yesterday that none of the original 20 defendants have been linked to terrorist cells or other activity related to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Fisher and Buchanan made their comments during a news conference at which Fisher announced that his office has filed charges against an additional 54 people for illegally obtaining driver's licenses in Pittsburgh.
Also charged was a Bucks County man, James Bidwell, 35, of Langhorne, who Fisher said acted as a middleman in the scheme and helped arrange bogus licenses for four people from Eastern Pennsylvania. Bidwell is charged with one count each of tampering with public records and criminal conspiracy.
At the center of the alleged scheme is Robert Ferrari, 57, of Turtle Creek, a former Pennsylvania Department of Transportation driver's license examiner. Authorities said it was Ferrari who orchestrated the sale of dozens of driver's licenses from the State Office Building.
Of the 56 people charged, 17 have been arraigned by District Justice Oscar Petite Jr. of the Hill District, 16 in Philadelphia and one in Harrisburg. State investigators are still searching for the remaining 22.
A federal grand jury last month indicted Ferrari on 20 counts of illegally selling commercial driver's licenses and hazardous materials transportation permits.
The state hammer came down on Ferrari yesterday.
The attorney general's office charged him with 112 counts of tampering with public records and unlawful use of a computer in the illegal sale of regular driver's licenses to people from across the state. Ferrari was arraigned yesterday before North Versailles District Justice Robert Barner.
Until his federal indictment last month, Ferrari denied he was involved in the license-for-sale scheme and admitted only to making a mistake on paperwork in two cases. However, an affidavit filed yesterday with the new state charges indicates Ferrari admitted his involvement to state investigators three days before he was indicted in U.S. District Court.
In that statement, Ferrari admitted he took "at least $4,000" in exchange for issuing phony driver's licenses and hazardous materials permits. But in 13 of the cases cited in the affidavit, defendants told investigators they gave Ferrari a total of more than $5,600 for the bogus licenses.
In addition, defendants in two separate cases filed in July in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court told investigators they each gave Ferrari $1,500 for phony licenses. Both of those cases involved defendants whose licenses had been suspended for drunken driving.
Ferrari was able to issue phony licenses by altering the dates of birth or Social Security numbers for the recipients. In 35 of the cases charged yesterday, the defendants claimed they had valid out-of-state licenses, but in reality had no licenses at all, Fisher said.
In 19 cases, the defendants obtained phony licenses after their driver's licenses had been suspended for drunken driving or moving violations like speeding, Fisher said.
PennDOT officials last month said they canceled 111 driver's licenses linked to the scheme.
The investigation is continuing and could result in additional charges against people who received bogus driver's licenses, Fisher said. Ferrari is the only current or former PennDOT employee who will be charged, he said.
State officials have been investigating since April 2000, when PennDOT referred the case to Fisher's office after determining Ferrari had sold licenses. Ferrari was fired a month later, after five years with the agency.
The first state charges were filed in July, but the U.S. attorney's office moved quickly after the Sept. 11 attacks to indict the 20 accused of receiving phony commercial driver's licenses.
Fisher attributed the delay in filing additional state charges to the complicated investigation and a lack of evidence before Sept. 11. That changed after the terrorist attacks, he said.
"The events of Sept. 11 increased dramatically the level of cooperation of the people involved in the investigation," he said.
Buchanan cited the creation of a Joint Terrorism Task Force, comprising federal, state and local law enforcement, after the attacks as a reason why her office was able to move rapidly with federal indictments.
The possible compromise of federal transportation regulations, particularly with the hazardous materials permits, also contributed to the swift federal action, she said.
Federal prosecutors will examine the new charges against Ferrari to determine whether additional federal charges will be filed against him, Buchanan said. She said the federal and state cases are separate because they involve different violations.
People accused of obtaining fraudulent licenses:
Douglas E. Scantlin, 37, East Pittsburgh; Eric Cordero Jr., 38, Clairton; Gary Brown, 29, Cheswick; James Stull Jr., 48, Brookline; William Manning, 61, Annville, Lebanon County; Francis Horan Jr., 39, Levittown, Bucks County; Terence Martini Jr., 41, Fairless Hills, Bucks County; Renwick Stroter, 31, Philadelphia; Ronald Stroter, 53, Philadelphia; Paul Sakalauskas Jr., 33, Morrisville, Bucks County; Fred R. Pacenski Jr., 28, Bristol, Bucks County.
Tina Wagner, 40, Morrisville, Bucks County; Patrick McMenamin Jr., 59, Philadelphia; Kert Wagner, 42, Bristol, Bucks County; John Sawick, 49, Hatboro, Montgomery County; Danielle Amann, 36, Limerick, Montgomery County; William Worrell III, 36, Newtown, Bucks County; William Worrell Jr., 56, Newtown, Bucks County; Raul Rizo III, 30, Whitehall; Thamer H. Aldiwan, 30, East Liberty; Atif Imran, 26, Edgewood; Aqil Diebel, 30, Lawrenceville.
Mohammad Jamil, 28, Swissvale; Golan Cohen, 25, Shadyside; Rishi Pandey, 31, Pittsburgh; Monto R. Patel, 24, McCandless; Gitesh H. Mistry, 29, North Versailles; Hasmukhlal B. Shah, 50, Green Tree; Salim Albo-Mohammed, 33, East Liberty; Ahmad S. Marrah, 25, Shadyside;.Rashi Arora, 21, Shadyside; John R. Caranfa Jr., 32, North Side; John Love, 37, of Wilmerding; Richard Gallippi Jr., 35, of Monroeville.
Defendants who remain at large:
Rizwan Azam, Flushing, N.Y.; Nayana Schrader, 35, Green Tree; Mohammad B. Safdar, 40,Ross;.Khaled El-Rashedy, 36, Oakland; Manuel Agaton, 28,Homestead; Yogev Zreham, 24, Squirrel Hill; Hicham Serghini, 31,Squirrel Hill; Kamlesh Zosai, 39, Monroeville; Shailesh J. Parmar, 27, Ross; Kirthidhar Bayavarpu, 31, Forest Hills; Sandip Baoot, 30,Wilkins.
Hamant Brahambhatt, 31, Green Tree; Rakesh Baoot, 30,, Green Tree; Sudhir P. Chitre, 56, Green Tree; Anilkumar A. Patel, 46, Green Tree; Bushra P. Chaudhry, 39,Ross; Ahmed Korshem, 35, Oakland; Anilkumar M. Shah, 30, Green Tree; Navinchandra A. Patel, 38, Coraopolis; Yogesh M. Patel, 45, Scott; Jamal E. Chahir, 25, Squirrel Hill; Israel Look, 28, Squirrel Hill.
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9+11-1(partridge in a pear tree)= 19!
5+8+7-1(bomb)= 19!
8+0+0+11(th of september) = 19!
3(rockerfellers)x6(black helicopters)+1(New World Order)= 19!
11+18-10(bin laden lookalikes)= 19! Watch out today!
The Coast Guard and Navy should be very interested in your "diving analysis".
Thanks.
The USS Cole is in a Pascagoula , Mississippi ship yard under heavy security, fyi.
I believe you are correct. There was a one year memorial in ( I think) Virginia.
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