When one of the men, Sakhera "Rocky" Hammad, was arrested, FBI agents found a security pass from the Trade Center dated Sept. 5. Agents also have learned that Hammad drove from New York to Memphis on Sept. 11.
So far, none of the five men, all of Middle Eastern origin, has been linked to any terrorist organization or to the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI said.
But interest in the case spiked this week after Katherine Smith, the Tennessee state worker who allegedly sold the men driver's licenses, was found burned to death in her car one day before she was due to appear in court. Forensic specialists found gasoline inside Smith's car and on her clothing. She died from inhaling flames, one FBI agent testified.
None of the five men has been connected to her death.
"We are looking at every possible scenario," Phil Thomas, the head of the FBI's Memphis field office, said Friday. "And that includes whether it was an accident, a murder or a suicide."
The trail leading from Memphis to Hammad began Jan. 31 when an FBI informant in New York told FBI agents that "several persons from the Mid-East who were here illegally" were driving to Memphis on Feb. 5 in a gray 2001 Dodge Durango, court papers say. Their purpose: to obtain driver's licenses for about $1,000 each, according to the arrest affidavit.
to me, it's saying rocky has a pass showing he had "a pass from the WTC dated on 9/5."
it goes on to say "agents learned that Hammad drove from NY to memphis on 9/11."
further down the piece it's saying that several persons are driving to the license bureau on 9/5 and are subsequently arrested.
if that's the case, wouldn't they all ready be in the klink on 9/11?
was rocky with the others on the 9/5 trip from NYC to memphis? was he arrested later?
is it possible that this piece was a "revised" edition of the original article?