Posted on 09/16/2002 10:16:31 PM PDT by Marak
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."
Was the threat given any credence before the tollgate incident?
Red
I was trying some of the European links, but I don't think they're going to work either.
Maybe these people just blew the toll booth because they were in a hurry to register as Democrats. Was either vehicle a red pick-up truck?
Believe it or not, they used to make you take an oath, which I thought was really bizarre. But that was before the 2000 election debacle.
Guess we can do a live 3:30 a.m. thread if this interview ever comes on.
Red
"Speaking to reporters after his release, Gheith, who has a long beard and wore a skull cap, said the woman may have been influenced by his appearance. "She saw obviously the way I was dressed and maybe she put a little salt and pepper into her story," he said. The men denied making any comments or jokes about terrorism."
Red
Red
Red
It's hard to believe these guys would be doing all these interviews if they had real terrorist connections.
Anything is possible. I know some people believe the terrorists are training doctors like they trained pilots!
But I cannot believe they would let these guys go in the current atmosphere if there was even the tiniest scintilla of doubt.
We shall see.
I agree..we shall see
Red
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