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War on Terrorism: 3 Arrested in Florida, 1 in Illinois
Aired February 20, 2003 - 13:07 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Our Mike Brooks with us to talk about what we did hear today.
Mike, you've had such an extensive background in law enforcement, also with the FBI.
What do you make of this?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: I think Arian is a major player, and so does some folks within federal law enforcement. They told me they feel like he's a major player.
We go back, we look at Arian, he came to the United States back in 1975, but he started falling under the look of the FBI microscope right around 1995 when he and an associate of his, Ramadan Sale (ph), also known as Abdullah Sale (ph) started up a group called -- there was a think tank at the University of South Florida called WISE, the World Islamic Studies Enterprise, and that's when they started looking at him.
But a lot of people will ask, well, why did they take so long? And that's a very good question, why did it take so long from 1995 until now for the FBI to make an arrest, when the Attorney General Ashcroft said this enterprise, this racketeering enterprise has been going on since 1984?
Well, it takes quite a bit of intelligence information and investigative beating the bushes, if you will, by investigators to find out exactly if there's any criminality involved, and that's the main thing, Kyra, even when you're talking about a terrorism case, is trying to find out if there is any criminality.
PHILLIPS: Will agents be -- he's been here since 1975, so could this go even further back?
BROOKS: Well, it could. And agents have been looking into that, and I'm sure they looked into that over the last almost eight years. But when they first opened up -- the way -- let me explain the way the investigation kind of comes to life, if you will, within the FBI. They will get some intelligence information, maybe some source information about someone who may be involved, maybe allegedly involved in a criminal enterprise. They'll open up a preliminary inquiry, a preliminary investigation. They'll use the most unobtrusive means possible to see what this person is about. They'll run some background checks. They'll check into when he came into the country, what kind of things he's been doing since he got into the country, and from there, they'll start to develop their case. And to develop their case and make it into a full investigation, a full field investigation, it takes, you know, wiretaps, it takes a lot of these things. All these are under court orders, because they have to be careful as to not -- to make sure they do not trample on his civil rights here, being in the United States. And that's what the FBI has to be very careful of.
Attorney General Ashcroft spoke about the Patriot Act and some of the investigative means they used as a result of the Patriot Act. Going back a number of years, there has been a lot of prohibitions against law enforcement, because they were covered under the attorney general guidelines, which didn't allow them to do certain things they can do now -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Our Mike Brooks, thank you, we'll continue to follow the investigation.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 20, 2003 - 13:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Our Mike Brooks with us to talk about what we did hear today.
Mike, you've had such an extensive background in law enforcement, also with the FBI.
What do you make of this?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: I think Arian is a major player, and so does some folks within federal law enforcement. They told me they feel like he's a major player.
We go back, we look at Arian, he came to the United States back in 1975, but he started falling under the look of the FBI microscope right around 1995 when he and an associate of his, Ramadan Sale (ph), also known as Abdullah Sale (ph) started up a group called -- there was a think tank at the University of South Florida called WISE, the World Islamic Studies Enterprise, and that's when they started looking at him.
But a lot of people will ask, well, why did they take so long? And that's a very good question, why did it take so long from 1995 until now for the FBI to make an arrest, when the Attorney General Ashcroft said this enterprise, this racketeering enterprise has been going on since 1984?
Well, it takes quite a bit of intelligence information and investigative beating the bushes, if you will, by investigators to find out exactly if there's any criminality involved, and that's the main thing, Kyra, even when you're talking about a terrorism case, is trying to find out if there is any criminality.
PHILLIPS: Will agents be -- he's been here since 1975, so could this go even further back?
BROOKS: Well, it could. And agents have been looking into that, and I'm sure they looked into that over the last almost eight years. But when they first opened up -- the way -- let me explain the way the investigation kind of comes to life, if you will, within the FBI. They will get some intelligence information, maybe some source information about someone who may be involved, maybe allegedly involved in a criminal enterprise. They'll open up a preliminary inquiry, a preliminary investigation. They'll use the most unobtrusive means possible to see what this person is about. They'll run some background checks. They'll check into when he came into the country, what kind of things he's been doing since he got into the country, and from there, they'll start to develop their case. And to develop their case and make it into a full investigation, a full field investigation, it takes, you know, wiretaps, it takes a lot of these things. All these are under court orders, because they have to be careful as to not -- to make sure they do not trample on his civil rights here, being in the United States. And that's what the FBI has to be very careful of.
Attorney General Ashcroft spoke about the Patriot Act and some of the investigative means they used as a result of the Patriot Act. Going back a number of years, there has been a lot of prohibitions against law enforcement, because they were covered under the attorney general guidelines, which didn't allow them to do certain things they can do now -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Our Mike Brooks, thank you, we'll continue to follow the investigation.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
