Search the Internet          Tips  Links: Terror in America

Indian duo no longer suspect in September 11 attacks

Dharam Shourie in New York

Two Indian Muslim men arrested on September 12 are no longer suspects in any crime connected to the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, officials said.

Ayub Ali Khan and Mohammed Jaweed Azmath had aroused suspicion while they were travelling in a train with the box cutters of the type used by the hijackers. They also had $5,600 in cash. But three months of investigations have failed to link them to the hijackers who crashed planes on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.

However, they are not likely to go Scott free. In Khan's case, federal officials say he has been charged with fraud involving several hundred thousand dollars of unpaid credit card charges and he has agreed to be deported for immigration violations.

Area authorities are also looking into the immigration status of Azmath.

It could turn out that the men were simply caught up in the inquiry through a bizarre series of coincidences.

They had flown out of Newark on September 11, the morning of the attacks, and were detained on a train in Texas after a check by police found that they were carrying box cutters.

They had been managing news stands in Newark, New Jersey, and had boarded a train after their flight to San Antonio grounded at St Louis following the terrorist attack.

The two have been in jail ever since but investigators now say the questions about them now involve financial or immigration issues.

PTI

America's War on Terror: The Complete Coverage
The Attack on US Cities: The Complete Coverage

The Terrorism Weblog: Latest Stories from Around the World

External Link:
For further coverage, please visit www.saja.org/roundupsept11.html

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report