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CNN Live Today
Police Follow Up Leads
Aired September 12, 2001 - 13:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: I have a couple of notes for you. Keep in mind, we're about 1:55 Eastern Time. In about 35 minutes, the Secretary of State, Colin Powell will hold a news conference and we plan to bring that to you live when it happens.
Also the investigation we saw at the beginning of this hour, some police activity, S.W.A.T. team activity around the hotel in Boston where members of the police and S.W.A.T. team were attempting some undisclosed police activity surrounding tips that perhaps some material leads might be available at that hotel, as they were in Florida with several people taken into custody there.
We have Eileen O'Connor in Washington keeping track of the investigation in the wake of yesterdays' tragedy. What do we know? How far along are we, Eileen?
EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do have some new developments to report, Lou. First of all, in Corral Springs, Florida, the police there, Sergeant Rich McCorvo (ph), the police spokesman, is confirming that four of the Corral Springs police department officers did accompany FBI agents to a home in that city, the home of Mohammed Atta (ph). And they say that they do believe that he may have been one of the hijackers. They do not say whether they took anyone into custody when they went to that home.
They also have issued, at the request of the FBI, the police in Corral Springs have issued a BOLO, it is a Be On the LookOut, for two different cars, one of them is a 1989 two-door red Pontiac with license number D79DDV or DVD -- David-Victor-David -- and a four-door Oldsmobile with license number V for Victor, EP Edward-Patrick, 54N, as in Nancy.
Now that is a BOLO -- Be On the LookOut -- for those two vehicles. They say they do not have any details as to why the FBI wants to get a hold of those two cars.
In addition we are also being told by law enforcement source that the agents on the ground in Florida do have some people in custody, they are saying, and that they are talking to them. Now these are not necessarily suspects at all. These are people who they want to talk to about perhaps any leads trying to trace back some people.
They have been in touch with Huffman Aviation School. That is an aviation school in Venice, Florida. They say -- the owner of that school says -- that they are talking to him about one of the students from that school.
And, in addition, we also know that over in Boston, the main spokesman for the main department of public safety, Steve McCauseland (ph) and the governor there, has confirmed that they seized a vehicle from the Portland, Maine Jet Port yesterday evening, the police did. And they believe that two of the hijackers used that car to travel to the jet port where they bordered an early morning flight from Portland, Maine, the jet port, to Boston, very early in the morning.
It was a commercial flight. They're not releasing the name of the airline. That was a rental car. But they do not know how long that car was in Portland and exactly where it was rented. They are now tracing back.
They also have not searched the car. They may well be in the process of that now. And they say that it was a Nissan Altima, silver, with Massachusetts's license plate. Again, also, police sources say that they do have some people in custody in Boston. Again, saying that these are people probably helpful to the investigation -- Lou.
WATERS: Eileen, do we know how authorities got so quickly back to Corral Springs?
O'CONNOR: Well they believe that they are obviously crosschecking manifests, and they believe that, in this case, it could have been one of the hijackers and perhaps his name is on the manifest. Obviously, if he's a hijacker then he would BE dead and so they went to this home yesterday evening with the FBI. They are not confirming if anyone was there, in fact, at that home.
As you can see, this is -- it's 1001 West Atlantic Boulevard in Corral Springs and, as I said, the police went there last night with FBI agents.
WATERS: And are authorities saying anything about that car that was confiscated by the FBI or the central parking garage in Boston overnight and the evidence that they found inside, that the FBI says is useful and positive?
O'CONNOR: Sources say that they did have some material ceased from that car and that it was Arabic material, and they do believe that it is useful to the investigation -- Lou.
WATERS: Eileen O'Connor following the investigation, which proceeds (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Washington and elsewhere. Corral Springs, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts, where two of the airliners that were hijacked and involved in yesterday's terrorist hijackings were from.
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