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CNN Live Today

Suspected Terror Cell Busted in Buffalo

Aired September 16, 2002 - 10:01   ET

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


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour, federal investigators say that they have shattered a terror cell lurking in a suburb of Buffalo, New York. All six men are accused of being trained by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.
CNN's Jeff Flock is covering the story for us. Let's check in with him now, and we'll get the latest.

Good morning -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, Good morning to you from Buffalo.

Perhaps you see federal courthouse off behind me. That is where we expect today the sixth man now taken into custody will make an initial court appearance today. As we said, now six people -- five over weekend, and now, this sixth man, Mokhtar al-Bakri. I think we've got pictures of all of them, save for Mr. al-Bakri, who was apparently taken into custody in Bahrain, and then, brought back here to upstate New York to be housed with the others in Batavia, New York, not far from here, in a federal detention facility.

Now, what exactly are these men accused of doing? Well, the criminal complaint, which is about a dozen pages, charges them with providing material support to al Qaeda. Others have said, one -- at least one federal agent has said, they were an al Qaeda cell, essentially a sleeper cell. That is, people who had been trained overseas and would be called to action at some later point. Others -- however, other federal sources indicate that perhaps it wasn't a full- fledged cell.

What they do say they know is that they got training at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan before the September 11th activities of 2001, some time in the summer of that year.

How serious are these? How significant are these arrests? Well, sources also indicate that perhaps these are not high-level "big fish," to use Secretary Powell's words.

Despite that, the U.S. attorney here for the Northern District of New York told me a couple of hours ago that they will still consider these men to be flight risks and dangers to the community, and when they appear for a court appearance at a bond hearing on Wednesday of this week, he will argue that they be held.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHAEL BATTLE, U.S. ATTORNEY: And it might require us to disclose -- depending on what the judge wants us to do, to disclose information that would satisfy the statutory requirements that they are charged with a serious crime, what the nature of that is, in effect, that they are a flight risk and a danger to the community.

FLOCK (on camera): Would it be your argument that they are, in fact, a flight risk, and that they ought to be held?

BATTLE: Yes, that would be part of our position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: The position of their family members, however, in the community here -- this all took place in Lackawanna, New York, which is just short a distance to the south of Buffalo where I stand. There is a large Yemeni community. All of these men are of Yemeni descent. At least five of them we know are native-born Americans, born in this country, born and raised in this country. Their family members, as well as members of the Yemeni community, say this does not make sense to them. They know these men. They are family members. They are good members of the community, and they do not suspect them of any terroristic activity.

Also important to note, the government says at this point, they do not have any evidence that indicated they had been planning any terrorism, specific acts of terrorism, that is.

One other interesting note, and that is, later today, Governor Pataki of New York will be coming here at about 1:15 to talk to members of the community concerned about backlash. They have also posted additional, Leon, security guards in the middle schools and in the high schools in Lackawanna just in case there is any kind of backlash against the Yemeni students that attend there. It's a fairly large community.

We'll be watching all of this all unfold today, and we'll be back with you when we have more.

That's it from Buffalo.

Back to you -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Jeff -- Flock reporting live for us this morning.

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