Three men detained on terrorist suspicions still under investigation

Naples Daily News ^ | 09/17/02 | By MIREIDY FERNANDEZ, mmfernandez@naplesnews.com

[Marak]

Three men detained on terrorist suspicions still under investigation

Sheriff Hunter said he had new information on the trio before the medical students appeared on Larry King Live

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

By MIREIDY FERNANDEZ, mmfernandez@naplesnews.com

Just hours before the three men who were detained in Collier County on suspicion of carrying explosives appeared on CNN on Monday night, Sheriff Don Hunter said he had new information on the trio, whose alleged joking comments about a terrorist plot ignited fears across America last week.

"We believe the information (in this case) is not over because of other uncorroborated information we have at the moment," Hunter said.

The sheriff declined to elaborate because the investigation is continuing, but he did point out a discrepancy.

Authorities say Kambiz Butt, Ayman Gheith and Omar Choudhary were pulling a prank when the men made statements at a Georgia restaurant about a Sept. 13 terrorism attack in Miami.

All three men were detained along Alligator Alley for 17 hours between Thursday and Friday but were released after authorities learned the men had made the comments in jest.

On Monday night, they appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live'' and denied they ever made any statements with regard to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or future terrorist strikes against Americans.

"What hurt me the most is they said it was a hoax," Gheith told King. "We didn't say anything about 9-11, 9-13 or September or anything like that."

What authorities said turned out to be a likely hoax Friday prompted the temporary closure of portions of Interstate 75 and brought law enforcement officers from 20 local, state and federal agencies to assist. Officers used a robotic bomb detector to search the two cars the men were aboard and led a bomb-detecting dog to sniff their belongings.

E.J. Picolo, regional director with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said Monday it was too early to determine whether the men will be charged with a crime. After watching the King interview, Picolo said he couldn't comment about specifics of the investigation such as whether the men's account on live television concur with statements they made to police Friday.

"Our job is to investigate the situation," Picolo said. "We're going to report the facts as we find them and we'll go from there."

From the outset of last week's high-profile episode, Hunter and Picolo both said the men were uncooperative with authorities while they were interviewed.

"They weren't rude but they weren't fully cooperative," Picolo said.

Hunter said two of the men refused to answer questions, while the third would answer in the form of a question and "fished for information." Hunter declined to be specific.

Although no explosives or traces of bomb materials were found in either car, at a press briefing Monday, Hunter addressed a discrepancy.

A bomb-detecting dog alerted law enforcement there was some kind of bomb-making pattern in both cars, although authorities did not find any such materials.

"The dog alerts to a particular scent, picture or pattern . . . the dog doesn't make mistakes," Hunter said. "One theory may be that there were materials in those vehicles at some point that caused the scent."

Choosing his words carefully, Hunter told media representatives that he wasn't suggesting the three men were transporting explosives.

The sheriff, however, raised a number of questions he wants answered.

"I would want to know whether they were in the vehicles at the time" when any bomb-making materials were present, Hunter said. "We need to be able to explain why the dog alert happened and why the searches happened."

Hunter declined to divulge what new information he has received pertaining to the three men, all of whom are of Middle Eastern descent. The men are medical students who said they were on their way to Larkin Community Hospital in Miami to begin internships.

Hunter said he believes restaurant patron Eunice Stone of Calhoun, Ga., was telling the truth when she contacted authorities Thursday after she said she overheard the three men saying that Americans "mourned 9-11 and they are going to mourn again on 9-13."

Stone, who sat next to the men in a booth at a Shoney's restaurant, said she notified authorities because she feared the men were planning some sort of terrorist attack on Miami.

"That would lead one to believe that we're going to be attacked," Hunter said. "My professional opinion at the moment is that I believe Eunice Stone. She told the truth and did her civic duty and she should be commended."

Stone's attorney, Michael Prieto, also appeared Monday on "Larry King Live'' and said his client had no reason to fabricate a story about what she is certain she heard the Muslim men say inside the restaurant.

Stone was hospitalized with chest pains Monday, her attorney said.

An investigation is under way surrounding the comments the men made in Georgia and their bizarre behavior in Collier County that led deputies to make a traffic stop and issue a traffic ticket to one of the drivers who they say drove past a $1.50 tollbooth on Alligator Alley late Thursday without paying. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued a be-on-the-lookout bulletin, which Collier sheriff's deputies responded to when they stopped both cars, Hunter said.

The men say they never blew past the tollbooth, but Hunter said he has a sworn affidavit from the tollbooth operator stating that one of the cars drove through without paying. He also said his agency was in the process of obtaining a copy of a videotape that he said will show the car driving through.

Picolo, with FDLE, said the various agencies that assisted have yet to tally how much the entire operation cost — but assured that it wasn't going to be cheap.

"It was a very expensive proposition to respond in the manner that we did," Picolo said. "But given the information and circumstances, we had no other recourse but to respond at that level."

[alnick]

It wasn't the media, who said that Eunice claimed that they spoke in Arabic ... it was the three punks, tonight, on Greta's show. Eunice Stone NEVER said that they were talking in Arabic. That's just one thing, out of many, which they have lied, on camera , about. The media / reporters muddled things ; they LIE !

I have followed this fairly closely and last night was the first time that I heard anything about anyone speaking in Arabic.

I'm waiting for the anti-LE crowd to chime in on this thread and proclaim that since the dogs alerted and that there were no actual explosives in the cars, that that proves the dogs wrong. I believe they're willfully ignoring the possibility that the dogs could smell the traces of whatever has previously been in the cars. Maybe they made a delivery before they stopped at Shoney's, or had explosives in the cars in the previous days or weeks.

[windchime]

Your point deserves consideration. Freeperfromnj mentioned the red herring and for this effort to be effective, they've got to milk it to the max. I think he/she may be right.

Looks like they would have set up more sympathetic characters for this duty, though. OK, so they are medical students, have a polite TV demeanor and are fairly articulate, but there is an insolence beneath the surface that you catch a glimpse of occasionally.

[agrace]

Call me crazy, tin-foil wearing or whatever, but throughout this whole mess and the hoax claim and even the fact that most info points that way, there's still this nagging suspicion that we don't know everything and they are not quite who they present themselves to be.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Well we know who the attackers of LE always are and they all spout the same crap on any thread in which the State is under discussion. They want to get rid of it and all its manifestations and regurgitate an ill-digested version of history and political ideals in support of their fantasies.

Many also claim to be "more conservative than thou" yet seem to be allied with the Left when all things are considered. And their ill-founded attacks on Bush cause great harm to the conservative cause.

[KC Burke]

The Choudry family of Independence was in the paper in the last two weeks. Either in the Obituaries or the property transfer notes. I can't remember where but I do remember seeing that name and noting that they were from eastern Jackson County.

[js1138]

I was just wondering about the licence plate that did not match the car......anyone know the story?

The current story is this was a clerical error in the Illinois DMV. Talk about bad luck. It never made any sense to me that either terrorists or med students would have stolen plates.

[agrace]

REALLY? I hadn't heard that! HA!

[Lion's Cub]

Is anyone else getting the feeling that these guys are a red herring, intended to gain sympathy for muslims, marginalize those who are critical of them, and dissuade citizens coming forward to report suspicious behavior in the future?

It's possible; but I really think that was a defensive, rather than offensive, play.

Both dogs reacted to both cars. If there were enough traces of "whatever" for the dogs to smell, then those particles could probably be lifted for analysis. They had 17 hours to go over those cars. I'm betting there are/were lab tests pending.

The tests wouldn't necessarily connect those three to the "shipment", but they might have found some way to test their hands--say particles of the same stuff imbedded in their fingerprints...

I don't really know if we've got tests that are that refined, but it seems like we ought to by now.

In the meantime, with the sheriff being so outspoken, it looks like an interesting variation of the "good cop/bad cop" play--the FBI being the friendly one, and the sheriff playing the heavy :)

[txrangerette]

They are being confused with the NY
"terror cell" guys.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Ok. Been following this pretty close and didn't think I'd heard tha angle before. Thanks for clearing that up.

[kcvl]

I haven't heard the final word. The last I heard they were uninvited but would help them find other places to intern. (not if I can help it!) Why should anyone allow them in hospitals near real patients especially since there seems to be unanswered questions about them still?

[kcvl]

Are you going to be around for the Linda Vester interview of these three? If so, would you PLEASE start a LIVE thread for the cubicle bound? If you can't I'll be back later to try to get it started.

[Howlin]

What time is it?

[Howlin]

Well, I wondered because I heard one of them say last night on TV that there was no truth to that story, that they hadn't been dismissed from the school and intended to go there.

[alnick]

Just can't see Ashcroft letting them go if there was any doubt at all.They were let go but they are not off the radar screen. They're probably being watched; I know that they're being investigated.

[js1138]

they hadn't been dismissed from the school and intended to go there

There's a difference between school and hospital. The hospital says it can't take them. The school says it will find another placement.

[Sledge]

It's actually the "Ronald Reagan Turnpike" (my mistake)

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/turnpikepio/general_information/programs/RonaldReagan.htm

1998 Florida Legislature, Senate Bill 1014

WHEREAS, Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States of America, and WHEREAS, President Reagan was one of the United States' greatest and most beloved presidents and a true world leader, and WHEREAS, through his leadership and refusal to compromise, President Reagan won the Cold War for America and virtually eliminated the threat of nuclear holocaust for all Americans, and WHEREAS, through his success in finding peace through strength, fewer Florida servicemen and servicewomen are placed in harm's way, and WHEREAS, President Reagan's economic policies brought Florida and the nation out of double-digit inflation and economically crushing high interest rates into 92 consecutive months of economic growth, and WHEREAS, President Reagan's unbridled optimism gives Floridians and the nation cause to feel better about ourselves, and WHEREAS, his leadership encourages a rediscovery of the values upon which our forefathers founded this nation, and WHEREAS, his unending cause for freedom represents the liberty to travel about our state and nation's highway system, and WHEREAS, the people of Florida desire to honor President Reagan in the State of Florida, the Department of Transportation is directed to erect suitable markers designating the "Ronald Reagan Turnpike" as described in subsection (1).

The Florida Turnpike consisting of the 312 contiguous miles of limited-access toll highway stretching from Florida City, where South Dade County meets the Florida Keys, continuing northward through 11 counties, including the greater metropolitan areas of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, and ending at a junction with Interstate 75 in North Central Florida is hereby designated as the "Ronald Reagan Turnpike."

[blam]

There's more to this story, looks like someone is determined to find out all there is to know.

[kcvl]

1 ET...