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   Terror alert issued on Florida highway

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Topic: Terror alert issued on Florida highway (Read 348 times)

Rhune
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Terror alert issued on Florida highway
« on: Sep 13^th, 2002, 8:28am »

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Terror alert issued on Florida highway
Authorities stop car, close 'Alligator Alley'
September 13, 2002 Posted: 9:13 AM EDT (1313 GMT)

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Authorities closed a 20-mile stretch of "Alligator Alley," south Florida's primary cross-state connector, early Friday and detained three suspects who they believe may have been plotting a terror attack in Miami.

A Collier County Sheriff's deputy pulled over a car around 1 a.m. after it drove through a toll plaza without paying. The deputy realized that it matched a description of a car issued in an earlier alert, according to Collier County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Tina Osceola. A second car stopped at the scene and the deputy called for backup, Osceola said.

A bomb-sniffing dog responded to both cars, and the sheriff's office took the three suspects from the two cars into custody.

Bomb squad investigators in protective suits could been seen searching through the two vehicles in aerial views of the scene. (Map)

"They're searching the vehicles for explosives and that sort of thing," said Lt. Malcolm Rhodes of the Florida Highway Patrol.

Florida law enforcement officials issued an alert Thursday night after a Georgia woman said she overheard a conversation among three men in a Calhoun, Georgia, restaurant. Calhoun is about 70 miles northwest of Atlanta on I-75, which runs north-south until it reaches Naples.

She said the conversation indicated they were planning a September 13 terror attack on Miami, according to a report by Miami's WSVN-TV.

The men then left the restaurant and headed south on Interstate 75, the report said.

Osceola said the three suspects were in custody, but had not been charged.

Alligator Alley is a major cross-Florida highway that runs between Naples on the west to near Fort Lauderdale on the east.

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Irishlass
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Re: Terror alert issued on Florida highway
« Reply #1 on: Sep 13^th, 2002, 8:41am »

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I was just getting ready to post this. It sounds like they may have stopped these men due to an alert citizen. This is what it is going to take to keep us safe. We all have to be watchful and alert to what is going on around us and if we see something suspicious, report it promptly.

It will be interesting to watch as this story unfolds today.

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Rhune
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Re: Terror alert issued on Florida highway
« Reply #2 on: Sep 14^th, 2002, 8:57am »

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Man in terror scare says woman is lying
September 13, 2002 Posted: 10:55 PM EDT (0255 GMT)

NAPLES, Florida (CNN) -- The Georgia woman who prompted Friday's terror scare was "flat-out lying" when she told authorities she overheard three Muslim men at a restaurant laughing about September 11 and making suspicious comments, one of the men said late Friday.

"How many other people witnessed this event that supposedly took place, first of all? Did they ask the server who served us? Did they ask anybody else that was in the restaurant? How is it that one person can pick up a phone and make any statement that they will and we end up [in custody]?" said Ayman Gheith at a rest area shortly after they were released.

"What she has said is obviously a lie."

Gheith has a bushy black beard and was wearing traditional Muslim headgear. "She saw obviously the way I was dressed, and maybe she put a little salt and pepper in her story," he said.

Asked about his "suggestion" that the woman might have lied, he said, "I'm not suggesting, I'm telling you she's flat-out lying."

Gheith said he and his two friends -- Kambiz Butt and Omer Choudhary -- were all medical students heading to a nine-week course in Miami, and that's what they were talking about at the Shoney's restaurant in Calhoun, Georgia.

Asked if they made any comments about September 11, joking or otherwise, he said, "Of course not."

"Would you lose control of the conversation and joke about September 11th?" Gheith asked members of the news media. "Is that even an option?"

Gheith, a Palestinian born in Jordan, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who now lives in Chicago, Illinois. Butt was also born in Jordan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Chicago. Choudhary was born in Detroit, Michigan, and now lives in the Kansas City, Missouri, area.

Gheith added: "I have one message, I think it's time for us as Americans to put down our big sticks and pick up our books and read about other people and read about what they believe before we jump to conclusions."

He said he didn't blame authorities because they were simply working off the information given to them, although he did note it was unusual to get "pulled over by 700 cops."

"The police officers were very gracious. They were very nice people. They did their job, obviously," he said.

Authorities had referred to the three men as being uncooperative, even as they were being released. Asked if they were indeed uncooperative, Gheith acknowledged authorities could have interpreted that way:

"I made it clear to them that I would prefer them not to search my car. Maybe that's what they assumed as not cooperative, and I take that as my prerogative because I know there is nothing in my car," he said.

In a later interview with CNN, the other two men, Butt and Choudhary, also categorically denied the woman's account, saying they never made any reference to September 11 in their conversations. All three said they were handcuffed and held in the back of separate police cars all night, until about 9 a.m. when they were transferred to separate vans.

Authorities took the woman's account extremely seriously. They shut down a 20-mile stretch of Alligator Alley -- the major east-west connector in south Florida -- for most of the day, bomb squad units searched the men's two cars and federal authorities interrogated all three men extensively.

In the end, authorities said there was no threat, the cars were cleared, Interstate 75 reopened and the men were released. The three men climbed in their vehicles around 6 p.m. and drove away, 17 hours after they were pulled over.

At the time of their release, authorities called the incident a prank by the men, but officials were backing off that theory a few hours later.

"I think it's premature at this point in time to call it a prank or a hoax," said Carlos Alvarez, the director of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

The scare began when Eunice Stone said she overheard the three Muslim men at a Shoney's restaurant Thursday morning making suspicious comments. At one point, Stone said the bearded man said if Americans "were sad on 9/11, wait until 9/13."

Stone said she heard one of the men ask "Do you think we have enough to bring it down?" Another one of the men replied, "If we don't have enough to bring it down, I have contacts and we can get enough to bring it down."

"To me, that meant they were planning to blow up something," she said.

She called authorities, who in turn issued the bulletin for authorities to be on the lookout for the vehicles. The men were pulled over at 1 a.m. Friday on Alligator Alley, after one of the cars allegedly went through a toll booth without paying.

Asked if she thought the men were playing a joke on her, Stone said it crossed her mind.

"They were just kind of jovial about it," she said in an interview with Fox News. "My son said, 'Oh Momma, they're just messing with you.' Then I thought about it, and I said, 'Well, you know, they shouldn't be messing around like that. That's a cruel thing to celebrate September the 11th, and to think that that was something to be happy about."

CNN Correspondents Kelli Arena, Kelly Wallace, Susan Candiotti, Mark Potter and Terry Frieden contributed to this report

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Bumper
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Re: Terror alert issued on Florida highway
« Reply #3 on: Sep 14^th, 2002, 5:22pm »

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[quote author=Rhune

He said he didn't blame authorities because they were simply working off the information given to them, although he did note it was unusual to get "pulled over by 700 cops."

"The police officers were very gracious. They were very nice people. They did their job, obviously," he said.

Authorities had referred to the three men as being uncooperative, even as they were being released. Asked if they were indeed uncooperative, Gheith acknowledged authorities could have interpreted that way:

"I made it clear to them that I would prefer them not to search my car. Maybe that's what they assumed as not cooperative, and I take that as my prerogative because I know there is nothing in my car," he said.

Authorities took the woman's account extremely seriously. They shut down a 20-mile stretch of Alligator Alley -- the major east-west connector in south Florida -- for most of the day, bomb squad units searched the men's two cars and federal authorities interrogated all three men extensively.

In the end, authorities said there was no threat, the cars were cleared, Interstate 75 reopened and the men were released. The three men climbed in their vehicles around 6 p.m. and drove away, 17 hours after they were pulled over.

The scare began when Eunice Stone said she overheard the three Muslim men at a Shoney's restaurant Thursday morning making suspicious comments. At one point, Stone said the bearded man said if Americans "were sad on 9/11, wait until 9/13."

Stone said she heard one of the men ask "Do you think we have enough to bring it down?" Another one of the men replied, "If we don't have enough to bring it down, I have contacts and we can get enough to bring it down."

"To me, that meant they were planning to blow up something," she said.

She called authorities, who in turn issued the bulletin for authorities to be on the lookout for the vehicles. The men were pulled over at 1 a.m. Friday on Alligator Alley, after one of the cars allegedly went through a toll booth without paying. [/quote]

Well, if he "didn't blame the authorities because they were working off the information given to them", then why didn't they cooperate and let them go ahead and search the car. You can hardly complain about being held for hours when you, number one, run the toll plaza, then number two, don't cooperate when the authorities tell you why you have been stopped, number three, consent to allow them to search your car. It is abundantly clear that the authorities had probable cause to take the actions they took. These three made their situation worse by forcing the authorities to take MORE time to go get search warrants for the various things/searches of the vehicles and baggage. If they truly had nothing to hide, they could have made the situation MUCH easier on themselves by cooperating and giving a consent search.

Better safe than sorry, I say. The authorities had no choice but to do the prudent thing, by the book. Sorry, but I don't have much sympathy for these three. They could have helped themselves but choose not to cooperate. :2cents:

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