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| Home Front: WoT |
| Minneapolis terror suspect licensed for toxic freight |
| 2004-06-30 |
| The FBI identified Mohamad Elzahabi as a suspected terrorist well before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and more than 2Âœ years before his arrest last week, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. Yet officials of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said they had no clue that Elzahabi was suspected of having Al-Qaida connections when he applied for, and in early 2002 received, a commercial driver’s license to drive a school bus and to haul hazardous materials. Before the Minneapolis man got final approval for the commercial license, the FBI ran Elzahabi’s name through a database and cleared him on Jan. 18, 2002, said Pat McCormack, interim director of the department’s Division of Driver and Vehicle Licensing. Since Sept. 11, the FBI and U.S. Transportation Department have focused on tightening restrictions and procedures to prevent terrorism suspects from gaining licenses to haul hazardous materials. But, McCormack said, Elzahabi’s driver’s license was still valid for toxic materials Tuesday. Elzahabi applied for a federal operating license for his business, but not to carry hazardous materials. McCormack said Elzahabi’s school bus driver’s license was cancelled in February but did not say why...Elzahabi applied for a carrier’s license for general freight for Moe Hauling in September 2003. He bought $750,000 worth of insurance from Occidental Fire and Casualty Co. of North Carolina as was required to operate his business, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Web site. The insurance took effect on April 16 of this year -- the same day FBI agents confronted him in Minneapolis and put him in a local hotel while conducting a series of interviews. Elzahabi was arrested May 4 and later was flown to New York. But on June 2, he was granted a license to be a household goods contract carrier. On June 25, the Motor Carrier Safety Administration placed Elzahabi’s name on a long notice list stating that his license would be revoked if he failed to update his insurance. Long article with scary twists. All I can say is Sheesh! |
| Posted by:rex |