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US detains 31, seeks 29 in visa scam probe, links to Sept 11
Washington, July 11: The United States has detained 31 people -- including three with links to suspects in September 11 terror attacks -- and is seeking 29 others in a massive probe of how they fraudulently obtained us visas in the gulf state of Qatar, three senior state department officials said today.
Washington, July 11: The United States has detained
31 people -- including three with links to suspects in
September 11 terror attacks -- and is seeking 29 others in a
massive probe of how they fraudulently obtained us visas in
the gulf state of Qatar, three senior state department
officials said today.
The operation by the state department's bureau of
diplomatic security, the justice department and state and
local authorities, has netted 25 Jordanian nationals, five
Pakistanis and one Syrian since June 24, the officials said.
Of those detained, three, including Ramsi Subhi Saleh al Shannaq, a Jordanian formally charged in Baltimore with illegally obtaining a us visa, are believed to have links with the 19 September 11 hijackers, the officials said.
Al Shannaq, a Jordanian national who has admitted to being a roommate of two of the hijackers -- Hani Hanjour and Nawaq al Hazmi -- was the first to be arrested in the probe after investigators were tipped off to the possible visa scam in November, the officials said on condition of anonymity. "Our aim is to determine whether or not terrorists used this scheme to plot attacks against the United States," one official said, stressing that the full magnitude of the scam had not yet been determined.
"We do not know the full ramifications of this yet," a second official said.
Bureau Report
Of those detained, three, including Ramsi Subhi Saleh al Shannaq, a Jordanian formally charged in Baltimore with illegally obtaining a us visa, are believed to have links with the 19 September 11 hijackers, the officials said.
Al Shannaq, a Jordanian national who has admitted to being a roommate of two of the hijackers -- Hani Hanjour and Nawaq al Hazmi -- was the first to be arrested in the probe after investigators were tipped off to the possible visa scam in November, the officials said on condition of anonymity. "Our aim is to determine whether or not terrorists used this scheme to plot attacks against the United States," one official said, stressing that the full magnitude of the scam had not yet been determined.
"We do not know the full ramifications of this yet," a second official said.
Bureau Report