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The Animal-Skin Merchantâs Explanation for Missing His Flights
An Indian Muslim, at the centre of a terrorism scare on trans-Atlantic flights, is an innocent leather-garment exporter. The man, whose full name is Abdul Haye Mohammad Illyas, is based in the southern Indian city of Madras with business interests in the United States and Europe -- which requires frequent air travel, Indian investigators said.... The suspicions of international intelligence agencies seemed confirmed when Illyas failed to show up for the flight to Los Angeles, which was ultimately cancelled at the request of Washington due to fears of an attack. A similar alert was re-issued by Air France on January 7, informing the US and French intelligence that Illyas was booked on Paris-Los Angeles flight four days later. He had been expected to land in Paris January 7 on an Air France flight from Bombay and had a reservation on January 11 for an onward flight to Los Angeles. But this time too, Illyas failed to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris where French police were waiting for him to check his identity.... According to the Indian Express newspaper, Illyas had won frequent flier tickets for travel on the Paris-Los Angeles sector. When Air France asked him for his dates of travel, Illyas randomly chose December 24 without really intending to use the ticket, the paper quoted family members as saying.This explanation doesnât make any sense to me. Can anyone here explain it? Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-02-09 |
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