Posted on 01/24/2005 10:12:18 PM PST by ElephantinTexas
This is my first post so I hope I got it right.
This is breaking here in San Anonio. A single engine plane has been forced down at Stenson Field south of San Antonio. Homeland Security, DPS and SAPD are on the scene. They are waiting for a Chinese tranlator but they have Chinese illegals in custody and said that the pilot was someone Homeland Security has been looking for.
I'll post more as it comes available.
5 people in a 172P? They are lucky to be alive.
Damn Skippy - I would be willing to pay a extra sum in taxes if I knew for certain that it would be used to put a strong military presence all along our southern and northern borders - along with a permanent air cap of F-16s
One doesn't have to have a pilot certificate to own an airplane.
The FAA airmen database is here.
WOAI TV has just reported that Afzal Hameed has MULTIPLE licenses for many types of aircraft.
He owns Alpha Tango Flying Services, Inc. The number on the plane they are holding is N98873.
Alpha Tango Flying Svc Inc
(210) 828-4479 9623 W Terminal Dr
San Antonio, TX.
Five on small plane detained at StinsonWeb Posted: 01/25/2005 07:48 AM CST
Four immigrants and a pilot were detained after a Homeland Security Department division helped surround their plane at Stinson Municipal Airport on Monday night.
The five are being investigated in connection with a smuggling operation involving Chinese nationals, said Capt. Jeff Humphrey, San Antonio police special operations commander.
The five had been flying in a single-engine Cessna 172P south of San Antonio.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement requested help from the San Antonio Police Department, which provided a Chinese linguist to translate for the two male and two female passengers.
A police dispatcher said the craft was brought down at Stinson Municipal Airport just before 10 p.m. Monday.
"They brought a plane down. They are holding it," a San Antonio Police Department dispatcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press early Tuesday. "They asked us to assist them. The FBI is handling it now."
Online records of the Federal Aviation Administration show that the 20-year-old plane is co-owned by Afzal Hameed of Dover, Del. The other co-owner is listed as Alyce S. Taylor, but no address is given for her.
The FAA records state that the plane's last three-year registration was filed in 1999, and that the agency received no response in 2002 after mailing new registration forms to Hameed.
Authorities said the five had been flying south of San Antonio when they were intercepted and ordered to land. Federal agents and San Antonio police surrounded the plane after it landed.
The government's action comes at a time of heightened awareness.
FBI agents have been looking into an uncorroborated tip that 16 people might be planning an attack on Boston, the Associated Press reported last week. They are 13 Chinese nationals, two Iraqis and a man identified on the FBI's Web site as Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones, whose nationality was not given.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Friday that he has become "less concerned, not more concerned" about the threat since it was first reported Wednesday.
The original tip was received by the California Highway Patrol, said another federal law enforcement official in Washington who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
The tipster claimed that four of the Chinese - two men and two women - entered the United States from Mexico and were awaiting a shipment of "nuclear oxide" that would follow them to Boston.
FBI officials have said they haven't been able to corroborate the terror claim. A leading theory in the case is that a smuggler of illegal immigrants made up the plot to get revenge on the group, perhaps because members failed to pay.
SNIPLast week the FBI, citing a tip, notified law enforcement officials to watch out for four Chinese nationals -- two men and two women -- described as possible terror suspects who may be headed to the Boston area.
A man suspected of telling authorities about the Boston terror suspects was detained Monday by Mexican authorities in Mexicali, on the California border.
Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones was on an FBI list of 16 people sought for questioning about the alleged terror plot. FBI special agent Kiffa Shirley told the AP that Quinones was being questioned on behalf of the FBI.
FBI officials have said they haven't been able to corroborate the terror claim. A leading theory in the case is that a smuggler of illegal immigrants made up the plot to get revenge on the group, perhaps because members failed to pay.
Thanks for the update.
Would you please put me on your Texas ping list? Thank you.
Thanks for the update...a little scary...I work just down the road from Stinson Airport.
Looks like the oft-discussed by jihadis Operation Jihad Falcon has been disrupted. I wonder if the plot was to detonate multiple dirty bombs or chemical agents over major cities.
Ping Happy to #125 .....
Just a thought, a border-watcher UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) could have sensed the plane, but they don't want to say that in the news.
My pleasure.I've added you, thanks. :^)
Soneone found the plane number, I put it in google and got the links below.
There was an accident in 2000 in this plane, doing touch and go landings, it is under 8-21-2000, San Anotonio.
The next one is for the same accident, says the pilot was a licensed Mexican pilot.
I can't open the chinese page.
Web
Results 1 - 5 of 5 for N98873. (0.12 seconds)
Look up aircraft with registration number N98873
registry.faa.gov
CESSNA 172P - Fixed Wing Single Engine Registrations for CESSNA ...
... AFZAL HAMEED, Co-Owned, 30 OLD RUDNICK LN DOVER, DE 19901 US (Kent
County),
1985, 17276369, N98873, LYCOMING/0-320 SERIES 180 HorsePower. ...
www.aircraftone.com/aircraft/ models/cessna_172p_2072436.asp - 101k -
Cached - Similar pages
????????????? - [ Translate this page ]
The summary for this Chinese (Simplified) page contains characters that cannot be
correctly displayed in this language/character set.
www.epochtimes.com/gb/1/6/14/n98873.htm - 13k - Cached - Similar pages
?????????????
The summary for this Chinese (Traditional) page contains characters that
cannot be correctly displayed in this language/character set.
www.epochtimes.com/b5/1/6/14/n98873.htm - 13k -
Cached - Similar pages
NTSB - Aug 2000 Aviation Accidents
... 7/10/2001 KAPLAN, LA Grumman-Schweizer G-164B N6506K Nonfatal Part 137:
Agricultural
Probable Cause 4/19/2001 SAN ANTONIO, TX Cessna 172P N98873 Nonfatal Part ...
www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/AccList.asp?month=8&year=2000 - 48k - Jan 23, 2005 -
Cached - Similar pages
NTSB Report Brief
... Accident/Incident: Accident. Accident Location: SAN ANTONIO, Texas. Aircraft
N-Number:
N98873. Aircraft Information. Aircraft Make/Model: Cessna 172P. ...
www8.landings.com/cgi-bin/
nph-nntsb_connect?pass=12345&file=nntsb_200008.dat&pos=384911 - 39k -
Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
The reporters here, where the five are being held, are saying that the plane was picked up by Homeland Security Radar.
From other thread. The muzzie suspect owns a flight school in San Antonio
http://www.beapilot.com/cgi-local/schools/record_display.pl?482
{A previous post said "I didn't know Homeland Security had radar".}
Just let me say it this way...an agency that is now under Homeland Security is what has the radar. And has had it for awhile. But only now is it being called Homeland Security radar, because that agency is now under this new cabinet dept.
By the way, I'm not saying I know the agency and don't won't to reveal it...I don't know it for sure. But it's one of them that offers a type of defense for this country...air defense or border defense or something. And the President has told us many times that these defenses are being beefed up.
Now let me welcome a fellow Texan to Free Republic. You did great!
Well the links and reports are saying this guy is Afzal Hameed. But if you look for Hameed Afzal, look at what you get!
http://www.beapilot.com/cgi-local/schools/record_display.pl?482
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