Charges Dropped in Miami Port Scare
Jan 08 1:13 PM US/Eastern
By ADRIAN SAINZ
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI (AP) -- A judge Monday dropped all charges against three Middle Eastern men whose miscommunication with guards at the Port of Miami had sparked a terrorism scare.
Officials initially said that the three men were caught trying to slip past a security checkpoint in a cargo truck on Sunday and that the driver had said he was alone. Federal investigators and a bomb squad were called in, and authorities eventually determined the freight was harmless.
Even though Miami-Dade Police said the problem was a miscommunication, driver Amar Al Hadad, 28, was still charged with resisting an officer without violence, and his passengers, Hussain Al Hadad, 24, and Hassan El Sayed, 20, were charged with trespassing.
Court records show a judge dismissed all the charges on Monday and the men were released.
The three are permanent U.S. residents from Iraq and Lebanon who live in Dearborn, Mich.
Miami-Dade County police declined to comment on the judge's decision. Authorities said no federal charges were expected.
The scare started when a port security officer became suspicious because the truck's driver couldn't produce proper paperwork during a routine inspection to enter the port Sunday morning, said Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Nancy Goldberg.
"Due to a miscommunication between the gate security personnel and the truck driver, we believe there was a discrepancy in the number of people in the vehicle," Goldberg said. "This, and the fact that one of the individuals did not have any form of ID, raised our level of concern."
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were called to the scene, along with federal and local law enforcers, "in an abundance of caution," Goldberg said.
The truck's contents _ electrical automotive parts in a 40-foot container _ matched the driver's cargo manifest, she said.
The three men did not appear on any terrorist watch list, said Barbara Gonzalez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.
The Port of Miami is among the nation's busiest. More than 3.6 million cruise ship passengers traveled through in 2005, making it the world's top terminal for cruise vacationers. Its seaport services more than 30 ocean carriers, which delivered more than 1 million cargo containers there in 2005.
Thanks, your article answered my question.
Dropped the charges? They were reporting yesterday that they weren't charged with anything. Thanks for the update.
What is it with these Florida judges?
Does anyone have this judge's name, out of curiosity? This is a pretty long news article with virtually no real information in it. Typical AP.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were called to the scene, along with federal and local law enforcers, "in an abundance of caution," Goldberg said.
The truck's contents _ electrical automotive parts in a 40-foot container _ matched the driver's cargo manifest, she said.
Unfortunately, this DOESN'T mean they were up to SOMETHING ELSE when/if they got in..after all, the 9/11 hijackers hadn't broken any laws prior to their cold blooded murder of 3,000 people..
Why are these guys driving a truck into the Port of Miami if they live in Dearborn? Were to auto parts manufactured in Dearborn?
This reminds me of a story about the former USSR. An elderly employee in a sawmill asked his boss whether he could take home sawdust. After some back and forth the boss agreed and provided him the necessary paperwork to get past the guardhouse. Every time the employee went past the guardhouse, a guard would go through the sawdust in a wheelbarrow to make certain nothing was being stolen. When the elderly employee retired and was leaving for the last time, the guard asked him what he was stealing and the employee pointed to the wheelbarow.
LMAO... riiiiiiight... what the hell are we so worried about anyway?!
The cops should be more careful when handling explosives. They were lucky the charges were C4. If they were nitroglycerine charges... KABLOOOWIE!