Egyptian With Pilot Radio Charged
NEW YORK- A man staying in a hotel overlooking the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 was charged Friday with making false statements after denying he knew about an aviation radio found in his room that can communicate with pilots.
Abdallah Higazy, who had an Egyptian passport, was charged in a criminal complaint brought in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where a grand jury has been investigating the terrorist attacks that demolished two 110-story towers, killing about 2,900 people.
He was scheduled to appear in court later Friday.
Friday's announcement of charges was the first public mention of Hagazy, whose name has not come up in reports about the trade center investigation. But the complaint drew no connections between Hagazy and the Sept. 11 hijackers, other than noting his nationality. Some of the hijackers were Egyptian.
In the complaint, FBI Agent Christopher E. Bruno said Higazy denied any knowledge of the hand-held radio, which was found in Room 5101 at the Millennium Hilton Hotel, across the street from the trade center site, after the hotel was evacuated Sept. 11.
The radio was found inside the room's safe on top of other items, including the passport and a copy of an Arabic book, according to the complaint.
Investigators confronted Hagazy when he returned to the hotel on Dec. 17 to retrieve his belongings. The hotel remains closed.
Bruno said Higazy denied ever seeing the radio when he was asked about the transceiver, which is marketed for use by pilots, enabling them to communicate air-to-air and air-to-ground with other pilots or to monitor other pilot conversations.
The complaint noted that investigators believe 19 fundamentalist Islamic terrorists hijacked four planes and flew them toward targets. Two hijacked planes destroyed the trade center, a third struck the Pentagon and a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
Higazy arrived in the United States on a student visa and checked into the hotel on Aug. 27. He was scheduled to check out on Sept. 25 from his room in a corner of the hotel with a view of the trade center, court papers said.
Immediately after the attacks, the hotel's guests were evacuated and property left behind was inventoried by hotel employees.
The agent said a hotel security officer removed Higazy's property from his room. When Higazy returned to the hotel to retrieve his possessions, he was interviewed by FBI agents.
Higazy told agents he had served in the Egyptian Air Corps and had some expertise in communications and communications devices.
But when an agent showed the aviation radio to Higazy, the defendant "stated that the radio was not his; that he had never seen it before; that he did not know what it was; that he could not even guess what it was; and that it could not have been found in his room," Bruno said.
Higazy also said he had never had visitors in his room during his stay, the agent noted.
After the interview, Higazy was arrested as a material witness in the investigation of the terrorist attacks, Bruno said.
During a second interview with FBI agents, Higazy said one of his duties in the Egyptian Air Corps included repairing radios used by pilots to communicate with people on the ground, the complaint alleged. But it added that Higazy again said he knew nothing about the radio.
Leni
His name has never come up before....Its like someone told the FEDS where to look for the radio..
"stated that the radio was not his; that he had never seen it before; that he did not know what it was; that he could not even guess what it was;"
Yet....."Higazy said one of his duties in the Egyptian Air Corps included repairing radios used by pilots to communicate with people on the ground,"
Do these two statements sound kinda funny to anyone else out there?
So, this guy had a student visa. Interesting how he had a reservation for a month, bracketing the time of the attack. Coincidentally (of course), this must have been the planned time frame for attack execution.
Higazy said one of his duties in the Egyptian Air Corps included repairing radios
Evidently, this guy was an enlisted man, not an officer. If he had been personally connected or well educated (read: wealthy), he probably would have been an pilot or at least an officer. Instead, he repaired radios.
So, the question remains, how did this "student" get the money to lavish on a month stay at the downtown HILTON - just the perfect location?
Adding up the posted Millenium Hilton Hotel rates for a single room (plus 15% tax), he would have had to pony up around $12,957 just to live in this grand place for a month. That doesn't count any other expenses (in very expensive New York City). So, where did Hagazy come up with large sum of money (or the credit line) to stay in such a nice room? Where are his actual money connections?
We are supposed to believe the story that Hagazy is just another "foreign student"?
An 'aviation' two-way radio that is capable of 2-way communications with any other aviation-transceiver equipped aircraft - which includes just about every civilian aircraft as well as control towers and FAA flight centers.
To say it "can communicate with pilots" is a being GREATLY simplistic (but then, this is a NEWS report).
Would it KILL these guys (the author(s) of this story) to list the make (manufacturer) and model number of this 'aviation radio' that was found?