Cyclic Hotline
19th Oct 2001, 21:51
Hijack Suspect Reportedly Slipped Into U.S.
MIAMI (Reuters) - Mohamed Atta, thought to be a ringleader among the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 airborne attacks on the United States, was questioned about his visa at Miami airport in January but got into the country anyway, two newspapers reported on Friday.
The Miami Herald and the weekly Miami New Times said Atta was almost denied entry into the United States on arrival at Miami International Airport on Jan. 10, because he stated he wanted to take flying lessons on a tourist visa, rather than a student visa.
Atta, who had flown in from Madrid, Spain, was ordered out of the regular immigration line so that a second immigration official could question him at length, a federal official familiar with the event told the Miami Herald.
But after a 57-minute delay, Atta was cleared for entry into the country as a tourist.
The New Times reported a similar sequence of events, basing its report on two INS sources.
Atta, a 33-year-old pilot who traveled on an Egyptian passport and lived in Florida for a time before the attack taking flying lessons, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center in New York.
The Herald said the questioning over his visa was the fourth instance that had come to light involving a moment where Atta could have been stopped by U.S. authorities.
On Dec. 27 last year, a Federal Aviation Administration official threatened to investigate him and another hijacking suspect, Marwan al-Shehhi, after the pair abandoned their broken-down small plane on a taxiway at the airport, the paper said.
Also on Jan. 10, Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors failed to notice that Atta had overstayed his visa by 32 days during a previous trip to the United States.
In May, police did not arrest him on a warrant issued after he missed a May 28 court hearing in Broward County on a traffic ticket for driving without a valid license. Such non-arrests are common given that thousands of people get traffic tickets and fail to appear for court hearings.
When he was questioned at the Miami airport on Jan. 10, the Herald said Atta told the INS inspector he had applied for a student visa but it had not yet come through.
If he had been deemed inadmissible by the second officer who questioned him, Atta could either have been sent to a nearby immigration detention center or deported to Europe.
His last entry into the United States was on July 19, when an INS inspector at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta gave him until Nov. 12 to stay, the Herald said.
The Herald quoted a former INS officer familiar with Miami airport inspections as saying the reason immigration officials missed Atta's overstay was that they were under pressure to clear tourists quickly.
"Supervisors want you not to delay those people unless their papers are not in order or they have no papers,'' former INS officer Patrick Pizarro said.
MIAMI (Reuters) - Mohamed Atta, thought to be a ringleader among the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 airborne attacks on the United States, was questioned about his visa at Miami airport in January but got into the country anyway, two newspapers reported on Friday.
The Miami Herald and the weekly Miami New Times said Atta was almost denied entry into the United States on arrival at Miami International Airport on Jan. 10, because he stated he wanted to take flying lessons on a tourist visa, rather than a student visa.
Atta, who had flown in from Madrid, Spain, was ordered out of the regular immigration line so that a second immigration official could question him at length, a federal official familiar with the event told the Miami Herald.
But after a 57-minute delay, Atta was cleared for entry into the country as a tourist.
The New Times reported a similar sequence of events, basing its report on two INS sources.
Atta, a 33-year-old pilot who traveled on an Egyptian passport and lived in Florida for a time before the attack taking flying lessons, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center in New York.
The Herald said the questioning over his visa was the fourth instance that had come to light involving a moment where Atta could have been stopped by U.S. authorities.
On Dec. 27 last year, a Federal Aviation Administration official threatened to investigate him and another hijacking suspect, Marwan al-Shehhi, after the pair abandoned their broken-down small plane on a taxiway at the airport, the paper said.
Also on Jan. 10, Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors failed to notice that Atta had overstayed his visa by 32 days during a previous trip to the United States.
In May, police did not arrest him on a warrant issued after he missed a May 28 court hearing in Broward County on a traffic ticket for driving without a valid license. Such non-arrests are common given that thousands of people get traffic tickets and fail to appear for court hearings.
When he was questioned at the Miami airport on Jan. 10, the Herald said Atta told the INS inspector he had applied for a student visa but it had not yet come through.
If he had been deemed inadmissible by the second officer who questioned him, Atta could either have been sent to a nearby immigration detention center or deported to Europe.
His last entry into the United States was on July 19, when an INS inspector at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta gave him until Nov. 12 to stay, the Herald said.
The Herald quoted a former INS officer familiar with Miami airport inspections as saying the reason immigration officials missed Atta's overstay was that they were under pressure to clear tourists quickly.
"Supervisors want you not to delay those people unless their papers are not in order or they have no papers,'' former INS officer Patrick Pizarro said.