Reports say both men's names were linked to a rental car found at Boston's Logan airport. It apparently contained Arabic-language flight manuals and the names of some of the other suspects.
Another rental car belonging to other suspects was found at a jetport in Portland, Maine. And that discovery has led to speculation about a Canadian connection.
American reports say the men in that car went to Maine from Canada.
One report said there were ticket stubs in the car indicating they rode the ferry from Nova Scotia. Still other reports say hijackers entered the U.S. from other countries, including England and the Bahamas.
http://www.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/09/13/leadall010913Last Updated Wed Sep 12 23:39:32 2001
Earlier, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien spoke to U.S. President George Bush about reports that two of the terrorists may have entered the country through Canada.
Maine's governor, Angus King, told Associated Press they left behind a rental car, which has been impounded, containing a flight manual written in Arabic. Other officials cautioned that the information is still preliminary.
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There's still no clear sign who was responsible for the attacks, but authorities continue to investigate whether Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden, based in Afghanistan, is connected.
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban party says talk of extraditing him is premature. A local newspaper has issued a statement that it says is from bin Laden, denying responsibility.
http://www.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/09/12/attacks010912Plane tickets for seven people suspected of being the hijackers were purchased with one credit card, information federal investigators deem extremely critical evidence, sources told CNN.
The credit card apparently belonged to a material witness picked up in Boston, not one of the hijackers.
Two of the hijackers apparently came to the United States from Nova Scotia, Canada, crossing the border via a ferry to Bar Harbor, Maine, sources said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol are assisting U.S. law enforcement in retracing their steps in Canada.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/investigation.terrorism/In Halifax, RCMP investigators impounded a late-model Chevrolet Malibu at the Avis car rental lot at the Halifax airport, saying that the seizure ''was ... in connection with the situation in the US.''
Investigators in Portland, Maine, were looking into the possibility that two terrorists had stayed in Room 232 of the South Portland Comfort Inn before their departure. Police spent much of the day inside Room 232 and questioned guests in neighboring rooms.
At 6 a.m. Tuesday, two suspects were caught by security cameras boarding Flight 5930 from Portland to Boston, due to arrive in Boston 50 minutes later, said Michael Chitwood, Portland's chief of police.
''They had dark hair, olive-dark complexions, and
casually dressed,'' Chitwood said. ''One seemed to be carrying a strap with a small bag attached, and the other guy was just picking his bag up. ... They weren't from Maine.''
Then, later Tuesday, State Police in Portland impounded a second rental car, a 2001 silver Nissan Altima, with Massachusetts plates. Governor Angus King of Maine and Chitwood said that the FBI believes that the pair may have left Portland for Logan Airport in Boston. State Police were processing the vehicle for evidence last night.
http://www.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/globe_stories/0913/Seeking_trail_of_suspects_across_borders+.shtml
Vincent Cannistraro, a former chief of counter intelligence for the CIA, said authorities believe the hijackers may have entered the U.S. via two Maine border points -- Jackson, a remote site near Armstrong, Que., and Portland, via the ferry from Yarmouth, N.S.
"As many as five people came across from Canada," said Mr. Cannistraro, who was in contact with people close to the investigation.
He said the five terrorists went to Bangor, Me., where "they boarded a feeder plane but only three of them could get on board because it was full and the other two went on to Portland and got a flight from Portland."
They all flew to Logan Airport in Boston where they regrouped.
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8089
As investigators pursued new leads on Saturday, some old ones seemed to be falling apart. And new ones with odd twists were emerging. An FBI spokeswoman said the agency is working on 1,000 leads in Florida alone.
Among those leads are The Washington Post story about a possible U.S. role in the training of the pilots. A man named Saeed Alghamdi graduated from the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, the Post reported. Men with the same names as two other suspected hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari, appear as graduates of the U.S. International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., and the Aerospace Medical School at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, respectively.
“Some of the FBI suspects had names similar to those used by foreign alumni of U.S. military courses,” the Air Force said in a statement. “However, discrepancies in their biographical data, such as birth dates 20 years off, indicate we are probably not talking about the same people.”
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-culprits16.story
Police and law enforcement sources said the two brothers suspected in the Boston hijackings were ADNAN BUKHARI and AMEER ABBAS BUKHARI, who up until recent days had lived in Vero Beach, Florida. Both of their homes have been searched, the sources said.
The two rented a car, a silver-blue Nissan Altima, from an Alamo car rental at Boston's Logan Airport and drove to an airport in Portland, Maine, where they got on US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 5930 at 6 a.m. Tuesday headed back to Boston, the sources said.
Investigators are analyzing videotapes at the car rental facility and at the Maine airport.
Before CNN learned the identities of the two brothers, Portland Police Chief Mike Chitwood said, "I CAN TELL YOU THAT THOSE TWO INDIVIDUALS DID GET ON A PLANE AND FLY TO BOSTON EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING ... I can tell you that they are the focus of a federal investigation."
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/english/200109/13/print20010913_80131.html
Go figure.
Three rental cars abandoned at three separate airports.
A gold?silver?blue? Chevy Malibu from Avis in Halifax,
A silver?blue? Nissan Altima from Alamo in Portland Jetport and
A white Mitsubishi from National Car Rental in Logan International.
Who the heck rented these multicoloured vehicles anyway?
Ata
Atta
Attta
or someone else?