Newark On the Spot
UPDATE: AP via Newsday:Five Egyptians are in federal custody, accused of being in the country illegally, after an anonymous tipster told police that they were terrorists, the FBI said Tuesday.
“The investigation is continuing, but so far there is no nexus to terrorism,” said FBI Special Agent Steven Siegel, a spokesman for the Newark office. None of the five, nor a sixth Egyptian man with whom they lived, is on any watch list, he said.[SNIP]
Newark police, who had responded to the 911 tip call, contacted the FBI after becoming suspicious about responses to their questions and noticing a train schedule with some stops circled, Siegel said.
“They also had some video cameras with some tourist-type video on it and $8,000 in cash sitting there,” he said.
No weapons were found, and bomb-sniffing dogs did not alert handlers to anything suspicious, he said.
As it turned out, the train schedule was the route that one of the five, Mohamed Ibrahim Gaber, 34, mapped to get to work at a New York restaurant, Siegel said. Gaber was among five people who jumped ship in Baltimore in 2000; the others have already been caught, he said.
Also in custody are Karim Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed, 21; his brother, Mahmoud Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed, 19; Ahmed Mohamed Atta, 30; and Ibrahim Mohamed Sameh Mahboub, 24. Their hometowns in Egypt were not immediately available, he said.
All worked illegally in “menial” jobs, Siegel said.
ABC
Five Egyptian men with maps of the New York City subway system and video of New York landmarks have been arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, N.J., ABC News has learned.
FBI and law enforcement officials told ABC News the five men ‘ four illegal immigrants and one law enforcement fugitive ‘ were arrested Sunday night following a tip to the Newark Police Department. In addition to the subway maps and video, the men had train schedules and $8,000 in $20 and $50 bills.
The men were identified as: Karim Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed, 21; his brother Mahoud Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed, 19; Ahmed Mohamed Atta, 30; Mohamed Ibrahim Gaber, 34, and Mohamed Palat Anwar Jozain. When Newark authorities converged at the group’s location at 246 Ferry St., Karim Ahmed answered the door and agreed to allow police to enter. Officers said they noticed the maps, and video cameras and Karim and his brother agreed to a search.
Karim said he had the maps because he had a new job as a street vendor. Initially, Karim said no one else was in the apartment, but police came upon the three other men upon further search.
FBI officials said the men have no known link to a terror network but noted that none of them could adequately explain the items they had in their possession, the large amount of money or their reasons for being in the United States. Mohamed Ibrahim Gaber has been a fugitive since he jumped ship from an Egyptian flagged freighter in September 2000.
The men, all of whom claimed to be unemployed civil or chemical engineers, are set to be deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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