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

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.

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.

"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.

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."

The lady did a good job notifying the police. The police and the FBI showed how amateur our investigative system in PROFILING! These guys should have been stopped in Georgia, not in Florida hours after getting the info, for whatever traffic excuse. They should have been trapped to argue with the police, and spend the night in the can, where their cars would be searched carefully.

The Americans have a lot to learn from the Israelis on profiling! When are we going to close our gates to Moslem students? The probability of having a young male Moslem that love the USA is almost ZERO, so are we fooling ourselves allowing these low-life here?

Does the restaurant have a security camera? I know some Denny's restaurants do have them so the manager can keep an eye on the cash register and the people in the dinning area.

My fundamental question is: Why would a woman report this to the police? If this was a vindictive prank on her part would it have not shown. The conduct of the suspects needs to be adressed as part of the issue of credibility.

I think she did a good job. Typically, a terrorist would not speak in English about what he is going to do. But Eunice is not trained in law enforcement. As an alert citizen, she did her duty. The police and the FBI showed how slow they are! It should have taken only 15 minutes to order the stoppage of these cars on a fabricated traffic charges. Our law enforcement, and many layers of approvals is again illustrating that we should learn from the Israeli?

Profiling is good, and we should teach our law enforcement officers how to profile. As for the Moslem students, here is a little taste of their own medicine. How many Christians get into trouble in Arab countries zealot police. At least we released these misfits. Typically, in Moslem countries suspects sit in jail for years!

CNN IS ENDANGERING THE LIVES OF INNOCANT AMERICANS BY DISCOURAGING CITIZENS TO REPORT SUSPICIOUS MUSLIMS!!

That's exactly what PC butt-kissing Larry king did last nite as he patronized the three stooges and discredited Eunice.

Here is CNNs phone number. Call. 404-827-1700

When are we going to close our gates to Moslem students?

These are AMERICAN medical students. I understand your point about FOREIGN students, but these 3 are American. Just nitkpicking here, but, we don't want to emulate the sloppy reporting that has been abundant from the "real" reporters :-)

MSNBC has re-run the interview from yesterday - the morning gal - and they certainly have been cleaned up and toned down. VERY humble and accomadating. Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.

One other thing has been nagging me. Most medical internships start on July 1st (at least in American medical centers) These guys are 3rd year students. Traditionally students in the first and second years are in the classroom. The 3rd year begins the clinical rotations (not normally called internships). They usually start much sooner than the middle of Sept. It seems very late in the year to be just starting these rotations. Olliemb or patriciaruth, or other Doctors out there, can you verify??

These guys should have been stopped in Georgia, not in Florida hours after getting the info, for whatever traffic excuse

As far as I know, the police were looking for them, so I think they were acting on the tip. And we don't know what route they really took.

As for the profiling, it's time to stop all visas/immigration from countries that harbor muslim terrorists until we get this sorted out.

Profiling will catch a lot of them, but it's not going to catch them all. They're making converts all over the world from many races it appears.

It boils down to one thing, no matter how you want slice it. They're all muslim.

"Administrative snafu?" I can't help but believe that if I had been pulled over by Highway Patrol, who then found that the tags on my car don't jive with the files at DMV, that I'd be allowed to just drive off. At the least I'm pretty sure I'd get a nice ticket with a hefty fine.

It just doesn't seem right that something that was such a big deal last Friday is suddenly unmentionable.

Alleged terrorist threat prompts another police search in S. Florida
South Florida Sun-Sentinel ^ | 9/17/02 | Ryan Pastrovich

Posted on 09/17/2002 8:08 AM Pacific by browardchad

Royal Palm Beach · Police issued a bulletin Monday morning after receiving a report that six men were overheard discussing plans to travel to the Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport and "blowing things up."

No government agency reached Monday could confirm the veracity of the report. No arrests or incidents at the airport in Broward County had been reported late Monday.

Fort Lauderdale Police Issue Alert

BOLO Issued For Six Men

POSTED: 8:00 a.m. EDT September 17, 2002
UPDATED: 9:58 a.m. EDT September 17, 2002

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- There is yet another alert out for possible terrorist activity in South Florida.

On Monday police issued a "BOLO," or be on the lookout alert, after a Middle Eastern man reported to police he overheard six men talking, in Arabic, about blowing things up. He also says he heard them discussing Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and saw the men transferring bags between the cargo beds of two vehicles.

Police and the FBI interviewed the Royal Palm Beach resident who made the report. They said he is credible.

That led to a statewide alert for the group of men who were seen driving a late model green GMC crew cab truck and a purple Ford F-150 pickup. Both vehicles have tan bed covers.

Police said the report, made by a resident of Middle Eastern descent, had been turned over to the FBI. Special Agent Mike Fabregas, FBI spokesman in Miami, said the agency was investigating.

The Royal Palm Beach resident claimed to have overheard a discussion between six "Arabic" men.

The resident said the men were talking at a shopping center at Southern Boulevard and Royal Palm Beach Boulevard about 10 a.m. and transferring black bags from one vehicle to another.

"They were speaking in Arabic about blowing things up, possibly at the airport," the bulletin states.

The men were described as 30 to 35 years old, all with short hair, clean shaven and of average height and weight.

The bulletin says the two vehicles were a green GMC crew cab pickup and a new purple Ford F-150 truck.

The report comes on the heels of the arrests of five Arab-American men accused of forming a terrorist cell in Buffalo, as well as a multi-state manhunt in which three medical students were accused -- and then cleared -- of plotting a terrorist attack on Miami.

Imad Mahgoub, president of the Assalam Center in Boca Raton, said similar reports can be expected in uneasy circumstances.

"We all want to be secure," he said. "I'm a citizen here, just like everybody else. But I think we should be careful not to cross the line and overdo it."

I also read somewhere on one of these threads that these men were overheard discussing a party they had attended on 9/11 in Illinois. If this turns out to be correct, it seems to be another coincidence, doesn't it? Are any of these three from IL--in itself another coincidence? I think you're right on!

Fox News just reported that Florida police are looking for 6 men and a purple pick-up truck in a bomb plot. I will post more details if I hear anything.

There's a thread about it running here.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/752240/posts

Most medical internships start on July 1st (at least in American medical centers) These guys are 3rd year students. Traditionally students in the first and second years are in the classroom. The 3rd year begins the clinical rotations (not normally called internships). They usually start much sooner than the middle of Sept. It seems very late in the year to be just starting these rotations.

These guys are full of it: (from CNN) The students told CNN they were talking about bringing down a car for school transportation -- nothing more. "I was the only one of us three that didn't buy a car before the semester started in Miami," said Choudhary, a third-year medical student. "So my plan was that once we get to Miami I would buy a car before classes started, and I said that in case I don't find one in Miami, I could have one shipped down from Kansas City."

Good grief. This makes no sense. They're doing the CYA shuffle. CAN'T FIND A CAR IN MIAMI? SHIP ONE FROM KC? If they can afford to have one shipped, they sure can afford to buy one in Miami. PA-Leeze

I can assure you that if there wasn't anything in that car BOTH dogs wouldn't have alerted. I can also tell you that whether they were bomb sniffing dogs or drug sniffing dogs they don't alert on a innocent doctor's lab coat.

Isn't nitroglycerine a common heart medication? My understanding is that this turns up false positives at the airport frequently.

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