FBI: 11 Egyptian Students Missing in U.S.

[BMT (RIP)]

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...447.shtml?s=ic

I guess young men 18-24 could not possibly poise any threat.



BMT

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by BMT

I guess young men 18-24 could not possibly poise any threat.



BMT

Not at all, they're all just sight seeing, most likely checking out how to drive 18 wheel trucks or trains......

[Gypsy]

Looks like 3 have been taken into custody.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060809/...NlYwN5bmNhdA--

3 Egyptian students taken into custody By GREGG AAMOT, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago



MINNEAPOLIS - Three Egyptian students who were being sought for failing to turn up for an exchange program at Montana State University were taken into custody Wednesday, more than a week after they arrived in the United States.


One student was arrested in Minnesota, and two others surrendered to authorities in New Jersey. They were among 11 students being sought by law enforcement after they failed to attend a monthlong program on the English language and U.S. history and culture in Bozeman, Mont., the FBI said.

Eslam Ibrahim Mohamed El-Dessouki, 21, was taken into custody in Minneapolis on an immigration violation. Two other students — Mohamed Ragab Mohamed Abd Alla and Ebrahim Mabrouk Moustafa Abdou, both 22 — surrendered to police in Manville, N.J., after hearing media reports that they were wanted, FBI spokesman Steven Siegal said.

Eight students remain at large. They arrived in New York on July 29 as part of a group of 17 students. Six students reported to Bozeman on time.

The missing students pose no terrorism threat, the FBI said.

Hamvi Kassab, a Minneapolis grocer who said he is El-Dessouki's uncle, told television station KSTP that his nephew was in town to visit relatives and to inquire about attending the University of Minnesota.

Montana State repeatedly tried to contact the missing students. When that failed, the school notified Homeland Security officials and registered the Egyptians as "no-shows" in the system developed after the Sept. 11 attacks to track foreign students.

The government tightened the student visa process after the attacks. One of the hijackers involved in the attacks had arrived in the U.S. with a student visa, and immigration officials approved student visas for two other hijackers after they entered the country. A fourth attended flight training school without a student visa.

[Big Daddy]

We caught one here in Chicago. Attempting to fly out of Chicago to Montana using a false name and either a stolen or fictious airline ticket from New York. Very interesting.

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

We caught one here in Chicago. Attempting to fly out of Chicago to Montana using a false name and either a stolen or fictious airline ticket from New York. Very interesting.

Heard that on my local news today...good to know they got him.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...ck=1&cset=true

Heightened vigilance leads to student's arrest

By David Heinzmann and Brendan McCarthy
Tribune staff reporters
Published August 10, 2006, 7:36 PM CDT


With airline employees and police at O'Hare International Airport working in a heightened state of alert Thursday morning, a Delta Air Lines ticket agent became suspicious of a young Egyptian man who was agitated and trying to board a flight with an invalid ticket, police said.

Within minutes, she and the Chicago police officer she called for help learned that Ahmed Abou El Ela, 21, was one of 11 missing Egyptian students wanted by immigration authorities because they had failed to show up at Montana State University for a study program. Officer Tim Bolger arrested El Ela, and police turned him over to federal immigration agents for questioning. He remained in federal custody Thursday evening.

Authorities said they have no evidence that any of the missing Egyptians are linked to terrorists, and Chicago police Supt. Philip Cline said there is no reason to believe El Ela's travel plans Thursday morning had anything to do with the foiled terror plot in London.

Including El Ela and two men arrested Thursday in Maryland, six of the Egyptian students have been apprehended since they disappeared after entering the country July 29. The original group had 17 students, and six reported to Montana State on time. When the others didn't show, the university contacted the Department of Homeland Security, which has monitored the movements of foreign students since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

About 7:30 a.m. Thursday, El Ela approached one of the Delta gate desks in O'Hare's Terminal 3 and attempted to book himself on a flight to Bozeman, Mont., Bolger said, but his ticket was for a flight from New York to Bozeman on a different day.

He wanted to exchange the ticket and "was acting in a strange, erratic behavior," Bolger said.

El Ela raised his voice with airline agents and told the woman to call the university to confirm he was a student there. The woman did, but a university representative told her to contact authorities immediately, Bolger said. At that point, the woman called the officer, and he soon arrived at the gate.

By that time, El Ela was "calm and cooperative," Bolger said. "He was kind of confused, and he talked in broken English."

Bolger asked him questions, but he said El Ela would not tell him where he had been recently. Police later learned that he had apparently taken a bus from New York to Chicago, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

[QRQ 30]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

We caught one here in Chicago. Attempting to fly out of Chicago to Montana using a false name and

I don't understand that. He is here on a visa to attend a School in Montana. Why would he need false documents?

The most reasonable explaination is that they got engrossed in the Big Apple before making it to the Big Sky.

[Polar Bear]

and to add a little intrigue.

Pair with Passenger Info, Phones Linked to Terror

(08/10/06 - MARIETTA, OH) - Investigators in southeast Ohio said they were working to unravel how two Michigan men charged with supporting terrorism came to have airplane passenger lists and airport security information.


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Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, 20, and Ali Houssaiky, 20, both of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, were being held at the Washington County jail on $200,000 bond each, which could be raised at a Thursday afternoon court hearing. Each was charged Wednesday with money laundering in support of terrorism.
Deputies stopped the two on a traffic violation Tuesday and found the flight documents along with $11,000 cash and 12 phones in their car, Sheriff Larry Mincks said.

It wasn't clear what significance the airline information might have. Assistant County Prosecutor Susan Vessels declined to comment on whether the manifests were for upcoming flights or those that already had flown. She also would not give the origin or destination of the flight or flights.

FBI spokesman Mike Brooks in Cincinnati said federal agents were in contact with Washington County authorities. He said at this point he knew of no connection between the case and the alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes that British authorities say they have thwarted.

Abulhassan and Houssaiky admitted buying about 600 phones in recent months at stores in southeast Ohio, said sheriff's Maj. John Winstanley. They sold the phones to someone in Dearborn, Winstanley said.

Vessels declined to say how the phones, cash or flight information involved terrorism.

Investigators going through the car after the pair were pulled over in Marietta also found a map that showed locations of Wal-Mart stores from Ohio through Kentucky, Tennessee and into North and South Carolina, Vessels said. "We got them at the beginning of their trip," she said.

Vessels did not say why the pair headed to southeast Ohio from Dearborn.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday evening with Ray Smith, a public defender who represents Abulhassan. Houssaiky did not yet have an attorney, Vessels said.

Houssaiky's family members said he and Abulhassan work in the cell phone trade and were on a business trip, according to Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn, who said he met with Houssaiky's relatives Wednesday.

"I hope this is a case where the government is not overreacting, overreaching and over-reading," Hamad said. "This is sensitive and serious. Nobody should rush to judgment."

At their brief court appearance Wednesday, the defendants did not address the terror charges. Abulhassan said he is a junior at the University of Michigan and Houssaiky said he is a student at Wayne State University.

The fourth-degree felony charges allege the two laundered between $5,000 and $25,000, Vessels said. A conviction carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The men were charged Tuesday with obstructing official business. Winstanley said they initially lied about why they bought the phones.

Those charges were dropped Wednesday when the money laundering charges were filed.

Marietta, with about 14,000 people, is about 90 miles southeast of Columbus and 12 miles northeast of Parkersburg, W.Va.