The FBI revealed on March 26 that it is investigating Idris, 24, of Annandale, Va., and El-Yacoubi, no age given, of Fairfax, Va., for possible ties to terrorist groups. According to sworn statements submitted to U.S. District Court in Fairfax, Va., by FBI agents, Idris and El-Yacoubi were stopped by authorities while trying to fly to Jerusalem in December when one of them was found carrying a latter that the FBI believes indicated they planned to commit a suicide attack in Israel. Idris is accused of lying to a grand jury. The affidavit quoted a passage from the letter, which was said to have been written by El-Yacoubi’s younger brother, which said, “When I heard what you are going to carry out, my heart was filled with the feeling of grief and joy because you are the closest human being to my heart." It also said: "It is incumbent upon me to encourage you and help you, because Islam urges Jihad for the sake of Allah," according to the FBI.
Abdel Rahman Omar Tawfiq Alfauru
Agus Budiman
Mohamed Abdi
Kenys Galicia, Luis Martinez-Flores, Herbert Villalobos, Victor Lopez-Flores
The FBI announced on Feb. 27 that it had charged Alfauru with participating in a fake identification ring that included two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Some of that bogus identification has been linked to Hani Hanjour, one of the suspected hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, according to an FBI complaint filed Feb. 8 in Virginia and made public with the arrest. Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center in New York Sept. 11. The FBI complaint against Alfauru outlines a paper trail of applications and certifications by him and others that were used to falsely obtain Virginia identification documents.
Budiman, an Indonesian national, was charged Nov. 19 with helping Mohammad Bin Nasser Belfas — a man identified by the FBI as a “contact” of Osama bin Laden — falsely obtain a Virginia driver’s license. He pleaded guilty to document fraud charges on March 4. An FBI document listing Budiman and Belfas as individuals sought for questioning in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks identified Budiman as a U.S. contact for suspected hijacker Mohamed Atta, whom authorities have identified as the ringleader in the hijacking plot. Belfas is identified in the same document as a contact for bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the attacks. According to the criminal complaint, both men came to the United States from Hamburg, Germany, in October 2000. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said that Atta and two other suspected hijackers were part of a terrorist cell that operated in Hamburg and the United States. Neither man has been charged with any crimes related to terrorism or the hijackings. Belfas’ whereabouts are unknown.
Abdi, of Alexandria, Va., was arrested on Sept. 23 after authorities found his misspelled name and phone number scrawled on a map of Washington, D.C., that was found in a car registered to Nawaf Alhazmi, one of the 19 suspected hijackers, and parked at Dulles airport. The former security guard pleaded guilty on Jan. 11 to one count of forgery for falsifying a signature on a housing subsidy check issued by Arlington County and was sentenced to four months in prison. At the sentencing, a federal agent said investigators still had doubts about Abdi’s innocence, but had not been able to develop any evidence linking him to the suspected hijackers.
All four Virginia residents admitted to charges arising from their alleged assistance to suspected hijackers in obtaining false Virginia state identification. Martinez-Flores, Villalobos and Lopez-Flores were accused of falsely signing statements that suspected hijackers were residents of the state, while Galicia was charged with assisting numerous people — including two alleged hijackers — in obtaining false Virginia documents. Galicia was sentenced to nearly a year in jail Jan. 25. Villalobos received jail sentences Feb. 1. Martinez-Flores was sentenced to 21 months in prison Feb. 15. Authorities say none of the four appears to have had any advance knowledge of the terrorists’ plot.