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American Morning

Americans Who Tried to Enter Israel Planned Attack

Aired March 27, 2002 - 08:14   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Federal authorities believe two American citizens were planning a terrorist attack against Israel. They tried to enter Israel. They at one point were turned away and sent back after they landed.

According to court documents released just yesterday in Virginia, there was reason to believe one of the men was on a suicide mission.

Joining us now is reporter Jonathan Aiken with the very latest on the criminal indictment against one of these two men -- good morning, Jonathan.

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.

This is a criminal complaint, as you mentioned. It was unsealed Tuesday in Virginia. And it charges a man by the name of Mohamed Osman Idris with lying to a grand jury about why he and a traveling companion needed to obtain new U.S. passports.

Now, as you alluded, the story begins last December before Christmas, when Idris and Mohammed El-Yacoubi, both American citizens, boarded an El-Al flight from JFK Airport in New York to Tel Aviv. Now they raised suspicions because they paid for their tickets in cash and there were a series of other things that led officials at El-Al to want to question these men.

What happened was once they got to Tel Aviv they were denied entry into the country and were returned to the United States. In their belongings was a letter written in Arabic that was addressed to Al-Jacobi from his younger brother, a student at the University of Virginia. U.S. authorities think the letter may have been a farewell note and that the older Al-Jacobi may have been preparing for a suicide mission in Israel.

Now I'd like to read from part of that letter. It says, part of it does, "When I heard what you were going to carry out my heart was filled with the feeling of grief and joy. It is incumbent on me to encourage you and help you because Islam urges jihad for the sake of Allah."

Now, we should remind you that Al-Jacobi is not being charged with any kind of crime here. This is a criminal complaint. It deals mainly with a passport issue. And it claims that Idris lied when he told a grand jury that he lost his passport and needed to get a new one.

Now the complaint, which was drafted by an FBI agent, John Wyman, reads, in part, "I have probable cause to believe that Idris and Al- Jacobi wanted new passports that lacked reference to prior travel in Saudi Arabia in order to enhance the likelihood that they would be allowed into Israel and to avoid suspicion by Israelis that they were there to commit or support acts of terrorism."

Now, Idris's attorney denies any link to terrorism at all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM WALSH, IDRIS' ATTORNEY: This affidavit, although it's large, is basically a charge of perjury and that's it. It's an allegation of perjury. But it has a lot of issues in it concerning possible terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AIKEN: So where things stand now, Idris was released on his own recognizance last week. He's out on bond. Al-Jacobi was never charged with a crime, Paula. But both he and his brother were held as material witnesses by federal authorities for about six weeks. They, too, have been released -- Paula.

ZAHN: It's interesting, Jonathan, that they would even have attracted the attention of El-Al. Why was that and what kind of information ultimately can they divulge?

AIKEN: Well, what attracted the attention, and I started to get into this, that you have two men who are boarding a flight from New York to Tel Aviv. They had bought their tickets in cash. They carried with them about $2,000 in U.S. currency. They had no stated itinerary. They had no checked baggage. And the passports that they were carrying were three days old.

When they landed, the men were separated and questioned by El-Al security officials. Their belongings were taken elsewhere and examined. And in the course of that examination, that's when the letter was produced written in Arabic from Jacobi's brother, who is a student at the University of Virginia. That's what raised the suspicions.

But the federal officials in this country, FBI officials in this country, looked into this for three months. And what you have here are all U.S. citizens born and raised in northern Virginia. Their families have ties to the community. All three attended an Islamic Saudi academy in northern Virginia. And after three months, no one has been able to discern if there are any hard ties to any terrorist organizations or militant groups.

So it's something that obviously attracted a lot of attention, but whether or not there's anything there remains to be seen -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Jonathan Aiken, appreciate that report.

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