Posted on 02/12/2002 9:06:27 PM PST by Shermy
NBC News has learned that the FBI has arrested two men of Middle Eastern background who were driving Monday night outside the Pentagon in a tow truck. The FBI is investigating the men to see if they have any terrorist connections.
LUCY CALDWELL, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, told NBC News that state troopers pulled the men over Monday at 10:05 p.m. as they were driving on Route 110 by the Pentagon. Commercial vehicles, including tow trucks, have been prohibited from using that road since November, Caldwell said. She added that the men ignored a trooper who was trying to signal them to pull over their truck. A second trooper down the highway was able to get them to stop. He searched the truck and found numerous false identification cards, Caldwell said, including a half dozen drivers’ licenses from several states “with different identities on them.” Once the trooper saw the fake IDs, he called in the FBI.
Virginia state police have charged the men, whose names were not released, with traffic violations and possession of false identification. The FBI interviewed them at length Tuesday and, federal law enforcement sources say, still are trying to establish who they are. The sources say they expect the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to file federal charges Wednesday against the men in the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria, Va.
The men were not armed. Bomb-sniffing dogs searched the truck, but found no explosives or explosive residue, Caldwell said.
The arrest took place just two hours after the FBI announced its latest terrorist warning Monday night. The FBI warned the public that an attack might be planned for as early as Tuesday and told the American public to be on the lookout for a Yemeni man and 16 alleged associates.
Attorney General John Ashcroft on Tuesday urged the nation to be on “the highest state of alert.”
[more on other suspects from other places at link]
Steal an armored van for bomb delivery?
More likely they were going to repossess a vehicle - or were 'shopping' for one ...
Feds fear license examiner is dead - Memphis Woman's co-defendants tied to 9/11, judge told
"You don't understand, officer, I'm not a terrorist, I can explain. You see, ever since I was little, my hobby has been collecting false identification papers. When I was just a little boy in Cairo, I used to make my own passports out of construction paper, my mother thought they were so cute, she hung them on the refrigerator. When I was in high school, I learned how to slip my picture into real drivers' licenses that had been stolen--it's very difficult, you know. It's a demanding hobby, but very rewarding, uh... hey! look behind you, it's Osama bin Laden!!" (runs away as fast as he can)
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