Search for Saudi is Latest Lead in Probe
by Dan Eggen, Washington Post
The FBI issued an unusual and urgent worldwide alert Tuesday seeking the arrest of a Saudi national with possible ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers, marking a dramatic new lead in the continuing investigation of the worst terror attack on U.S. soil.
Saud A.S. Al-Rasheed, 21, “is suspected to be associated with the September 11, 2001 hijackers” and is considered “armed and dangerous,” according to the bulletin, which was posted on the FBI’s Web site and sent to law enforcement agencies worldwide.
The information about Al-Rasheed was developed in recent days and stemmed from a cache of material related to the hijackers that was recovered by U.S. officials overseas since Sept. 11, but was not reviewed by the FBI until last week.
Among the items was an image of a Saudi passport issued to Al-Rasheed in May 2000 in Riyadh, the FBI said. A picture of Al-Rasheed was found among pictures of some of the 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi, the Associated Press reported, quoting a senior law enforcement official.
Rasheed’s whereabouts are unknown, and foreign police were urged to contact a U.S. embassy or consulate if they receive information about his location, according to the FBI bulletin.
The bulletin was not specific about what the nature of Rasheed’s ties to the hijackers might be, and FBI officials could not be reached for comment late last night.
Yet the fresh identification of even a suspected associate could mark a step forward for the FBI’s massive Sept. 11 inquiry, in which investigators have meticulously tracked the movements of the hijackers but have largely been stymied in locating accomplices.
French national Zacarias Moussaoui, who was arrested in Minnesota before Sept. 11, is so far the only person charged with conspiring in the attacks. Other alleged conspirators, from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on down, are presumed dead or in hiding.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and other officials have said that the hijackers left no apparent paper trail of their plans, underscoring the dearth of specific information relating to the attacks.
“In our investigation, we have not uncovered a single piece of paper, either here in the U.S. or in the treasure trove of information that has turned up in Afghanistan and elsewhere, that mentioned any aspect of the September 11th plot,” Mueller said in April.
Most public terror alerts issued by the FBI have been general in nature since Sept. 11 or have been confined to special dispatches intended only for law enforcement. One exception came in February, when officials warned that a Yemeni man and his associates might be plotting an imminent attack.
No attack came, and authorities have not indicated that the Yemeni or his associates were ever found.
In January, authorities also identified six men who they feared might be planning suicide attacks on U.S. targets, including five who recorded “martyrdom messages” on videotapes recovered in Afghanistan.
Al-Rasheed’s name, however, has not previously emerged in the Sept. 11 attacks or among the dozens of individuals sought by the FBI as suspected terrorists.