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U.S. Authorities Have Taken Custody of Ramzi Binalshibh

Aired September 16, 2002 - 13:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: United States authorities have taken custody of Ramzi Binalshibh. Pakistani officials say the Americans have taken Ramzi Binalshibh and other al Qaeda suspects out of Pakistan. Details now from national security correspondent David Ensor -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, as you say, U.S. authorities now have Ramzi Binalshibh and about half of the dozen or so suspects arrested in Pakistani raids last week. And they have taken them out of Pakistan to an undisclosed location. Ramzi Binalshibh will be interrogated at length by U.S. intelligence. He is not considered one of the top tier of al Qaeda leadership but he is -- he's being called a very big fish by U.S. officials. Because, first of all, they believe he knows a lot, was heavily involved in the 9/11 plot. And secondly, because since then, he has been in contact with senior al Qaeda officials and he may be able to help find some of them or perhaps stop some other plots that may have developed since 9/11.

So this is a very important catch in the view of U.S. intelligence. Now they're also saying there's another man in the group that's been turned over to the U.S. and is now outside Pakistan that is of interest, another al Qaeda operative, much lower down, much less important, but still interesting. He is said to be an associate of one of the men who is suspected in the bombing of the USS Cole, that U.S. destroyer that was bombed in the harbor off of Yemen some years back. So another suspect as well of interest. Some positive developments from the U.S. point of view -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David, what about Khalid Shaikh-Mohammed, the other alleged ringleader that worked side by side with Binalshibh. Is he still on the loose? Do they know anything about his whereabouts?

ENSOR: He is still on the loose, Kyra. And of course he and Binalshibh were the two men who gave an interview to an Arabic language television station that was broadcast -- or bits of it were broadcast last week. Officials saying today however, that the fact they captured Binalshibh has nothing do with that interview. They were not following -- they do not follow the reporter and find these guys that way. And they do not yet know where Khalid Shaikh-Mohammed is, or at least they are not telling us -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David Ensor, thank you.

A sixth American citizen is being arraigned today in upstate New York for allegedly being part of a terrorist sleeper cell. But the past hour, within the past hour rather, U.S. officials confirmed that man's arrest. CNN's Jeff Flock is in Buffalo to tell us more about him -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Kyra, as we speak we are waiting for proceedings to begin back at the federal courthouse here in Buffalo back behind me. Proceedings on the subject of Mokhtar al- Bakri. We've got pictures, can't really see security from this side, but from our camera position on the back side we caught him being transferred. He was brought back from the Middle East over the weekend and then brought inside the courthouse. Mr. al-Bakri, date of birth, 4-20-1980. Address: Lackawanna, New York, just like all the other -- the other five men. He was detained, according to the FBI, in a Middle Eastern country during the week of September 9, 2002 and in federal custody as of the 15th. That would be yesterday, when he was returned to the U.S. They're not saying the country.

We have been reporting based on talking to members of the community, the Yemeni community in Lackawanna, that it was Bahrain. Again, Mr. al-Bakri, now waiting to be arraigned before a magistrate here in the building behind me. Again, arrest was announced by the FBI here in the northern district of New York. They say despite the seriousness of the crimes with which they are charged, there were no specific targets from this apparent sleeper cell, what some call the apparent sleeper cell, men that the government definitely says has some connection with al Qaeda. Though no specific allegations, they do say the charges are extremely serious.

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PETER AHEARN, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Western New Yorkers should be, you know, no more or less concerned than anybody else in the United States with regard to terrorism. That kind of question, are there more out there, well, I'm -- I would have to say from my experience, yes. They are all over the world. I mean look at events in the last week and a lot of those arrests overseas are not related to what's going on here. But the FBI, intelligence community, you know, the CIA, the joint terrorism task force here were always looking for that. And you know, to try to characterize it, it's always a concern. But I don't have any information that there is any other part of this group operating here in the Buffalo area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: In fact, Michael Battle, who is the U.S. Attorney here, told me this morning that he believes everyone on U.S. soil has now been arrested. There are two more people, unnamed conspirators, listed in the original indictment -- the original complaint -- and those two men, named conspirator A and B, are apparently still either at large or still overseas. This man, al-Bakri, was the co- conspirator C named in the original criminal complaint. So Kyra, that is what we know. Again, probably not as big a fish as the ones you have been talking about earlier. But the fact they are on U.S. soil, certainly gives this a bit more power.

Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Jeff, how is it affecting those living in the Buffalo area? Are they concerned about their community? Are they going to back their bags and move out because they are afraid of terrorists or is it a little less anxious there?

FLOCK: I guess it depends on your perspective. Some of the people we talked to here in Buffalo, say they can't believe this was going on here, glad they got them. Members in the community in Lackawanna, which is a suburb to the south, where there is a large Yemeni community, certainly expressing either a bit of shock and outrage about this, feeling as though these are members of their community and are innocent until proven guilty. A mix, I think it is fair it say, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jeff Flock, thank you.

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