FBI files charges against three

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 19. Investigative agencies have filed their first formal charges for the terror attacks of last Tuesday in New York and Washington.

Criminal charges have been made against three people in Detroit in what is believed to be the first of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's efforts to come to grips with the events of last week. The investigative agency has maintained that the material seized from the three persons include airport and runway maps, false identification badges, false papers and notations about a overseas American installation and the ``American foreign minister''.

The FBI is seeking as many as 200 people and has detained about 50 persons in its massive hunt for the perpetrators and supporters of last Tuesday's attacks. And the Bush administration is looking at ways in which to give investigative agencies broader support in their fight against terrorism.

The new pieces of legislation being contemplated include detaining non-American citizens who have been taken into custody for immigration violations; allowing Federal authorities upto two days to charge anyone detained on a visa violation; and The Washington Post is saying that the Justice Department is drafting legislation that would give the Attorney- General the powers to arrest and deport suspected terrorists without giving evidence in court.

On the investigative front, the focus is on different dimensions. The four hijackings that resulted in the direct hits on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are one part of the investigation. The Task Force on Terrorism is also looking at the possibility of a fifth hijacking that may have been planned out of Dallas, Texas. And the real hunt is on for the links of the hijackers in this country, accomplices and those who may have given any kind of help, material and otherwise.

What has stunned many is the extensiveness of the terror network within this country and the manner in which the terrorists had gone about the business. In many instances, the terrorists and hijackers had come to the U.S. legally, mingled with the society and given hardly any indication in the last several months of their plans.

In the midst of the intensive and extensive investigation that has made authorities spread the net worldwide, there is talk whether one of the hijackers who crashed his plane into one of the towers at the World Trade Center may have made contact with an Iraqi intelligence official earlier this year in Europe. There have been unconfirmed and preliminary reports to this effect even as officials have been quick to say that this did not in any way establish an Iraqi connection to the acts of terror.

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Section  : International
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