FBI agents have arrested three Arabic men holding airport passes and false identification papers as part of widening probe into last week's terrorist attacks, an FBI spokesman said on Wednesday. The men, apprehended at a house in Detroit, allegedly had diagrams of Detroit's international airport and material to do with a US military base in Turkey, spokesman Hank Glaspie said.
An appointment book filled out in Arabic had writing about an American base in Turkey, the American foreign minister, Alia airport in Jordan and sketches of an airport flight line, including aircraft and runways, he said. A phony US visa and immigration form were also found, along with a world service authority passport, a US social security card, and an identification card for foreigners. Some of the documents were in the name of Michael Saisa, 24.
In an affidavit filed by FBI on Tuesday, the three men arrested were identified as Ahmed Hannan, 33, Karim Koubriti, 23, and Farouk Ali-Halmoud, 21. They were being held at an undisclosed location in the area, according to Glaspie, for possession of false documents. Hannan and Koubriti had identification badges for Skychef, an airport food services business where they said they had worked earlier in the year.
The three were taken into custody when FBI agents turned up to search the house, which was listed as the last known residence of Habil Al-Marabh, one of the men wanted for questioning over the hijackings. The three men said they did not know Al-Marabh.
Bureau Report