IP: FBI CLOSING IN ON EVIL GANG

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

[ Question, why did the FBI leak this? djf]

> From: "JLB" <jlbtex () home com>
>
> http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/35031.htm
>
> FBI CLOSING IN ON EVIL GANG
>
> By AL GUART
>
> November 25, 2001 -- The FBI is close to making the first arrests on U.S.
> soil directly linked to the Sept. 11 World Trade Center terror attacks, The
> Post has learned.
> The arrests could be in New York City, possibly within days but certainly
> within two weeks, sources say.
>
> "We're very close," a source said. "Stay tuned."
>
> The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force plans to round up between three and five
> suspects on charges they "aided and abetted" the 19 hijackers who turned two
> commercial jets into explosive missiles that brought down the Twin Towers,
> wrecked the Pentagon and claimed nearly 4,000 innocent lives.
>
> "These are not material witnesses," one law-enforcement source said. "They
> facilitated the attack. They aided and abetted the hijackers."
>
> Sources said the suspects had not been arrested earlier because they are
> under intense surveillance as the FBI seeks leads in the hunt for Osama bin
> Laden and others in his al Qaeda terror network.
>
> The suspects' phones have been tapped for several weeks - with FBI agents
> under orders to make instant arrests at any sign they might attempt to flee,
> the sources said.
>
> It is not known whether the suspects were planning something, or just
> hiding.
>
> They could face 20 years to life in prison if convicted on a wide range of
> possible charges. They also could be tried in a special military court
> behind closed doors under new provisions ordered last week by President
> Bush.
>
> While more than 1,000 people have been detained on immigration charges or as
> material witnesses in the United States, none has yet been indicted with a
> charge directly relating to the organization of the Sept. 11 attacks.
>
> Overseas, alleged members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network have been
> arrested and charged with having a hand in the attacks on the Twin Towers
> and the Pentagon, including one suspect in Britain who allegedly taught four
> hijackers to fly and eight in Spain accused of aiding the plotters.
>
> Meanwhile, the Immigration and Naturalization Service yesterday announced
> the arrest of a Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad sympathizer in Tampa,
> Fla., on charges he violated his visa.
>
> Mazen al Najjar, who helped raise money for the anti-Israel and anti-U.S.
> groups, was ordered deported by the U.S. 11th Circuit court in Atlanta.
>
> Al Najjar is not directly linked to Sept. 11.
>
> Sources would not say what led the FBI to the suspects, but there are
> several possibilities:
>
> * Evidence gleaned from suspected al Qaeda members busted in Canada,
> Britain, Germany, Spain, Jordan and other countries in connection with the
> Sept. 11 attacks.
>
> * Information from scores of material witnesses who testified before grand
> juries here.
>
> * Leads spilled by suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, who has allegedly cooperated
> with probers here since he was brought to the city Sept. 13 on immigration
> charges.
>
> Moussaoui, 33, was arrested Aug. 17 after he drew suspicion at a Minnesota
> flight school by paying $6,800 in cash to train on a flight simulator to
> learn how to steer a Boeing 747.
>
> An FBI check of his computer turned up information about crop-dusters,
> spurring the Federal Aviation Administration to ban their use nationwide for
> several days.
>
> Moussaoui, a French national of Moroccan descent, is suspected of being part
> of a separate planned hijacking attack in Europe, federal sources said. But
> he is yet to be charged with anything other than immigration violations.
>
> The FBI also has continued to probe meetings between Mohamed Atta and other
> hijackers that are thought to have taken place at the Helmsley New York
> Hotel just days before the attack.
>
>
>
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