------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> <FONT COLOR="#000099">FREE COLLEGE MONEY CLICK HERE to search 600,000 scholarships! </FONT><A HREF="http://us.click.yahoo.com/47cccB/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/zgSolB/TM";><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> http://www.portland.com/news/attack/010914ledeall.shtml Portland Press Herald Portland, Maine Friday, September 14, 2001 [top of front page, banner headline] LINK TO PORTLAND GROWS By staff reports, SOUTH PORTLAND ‹ Mohamed Atta and Abdulatif A. Al-Omari spent the night at the Comfort Inn in South Portland on Monday and then, at 5:45 the next morning, flew from Portland International Jetport to Boston. >From there, officials say, they hijacked an American Airlines jet and commenced to horrify the nation. The Press Herald has learned that Al-Omari may have spent considerable time in Portland, over an undetermined period. Sources said Thursday that officials are investigating reports that the 31-year-old had a relationship with a woman here. The woman, who may still live here, contacted authorities after two hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Officials earlier said they believed at least one of the terrorists traveled through Maine. Thursday's revelation that Al-Omari was here ‹ and spent significant time here ‹ brought renewed interest to the investigation in Greater Portland. Investigators don't yet know exactly when Atta and Al-Omari arrived in Maine, but they know that someone, perhaps Atta, recently rented a blue Nissan Altima from Alamo Rent A Car in Boston, and that the two drove it to Portland. Police towed the Nissan from the Portland jetport to the Maine State Police crime lab in Augusta on Wednesday. On Thursday, federal investigators combed through the car looking for fibers and other trace evidence that might advance their investigation. Atta, 33, whose name has been on a list of people associated with terrorist groups, checked into the Comfort Inn on Monday night with another man. Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood said that surveillance video taken at the Portland jetport clearly shows Atta's face. He said police have six months' worth of video from the airport's security cameras, and are looking for more clues. Al-Omari's most recent address was Vero Beach, Fla., in a neighborhood called Treasure Trails. Al-Omari told a neighbor, Raymond DeFossez, that he was a Saudi Arabian Airlines pilot training at FlightSafety, a facility about a mile away. About two weeks ago, Al-Omari's wife and children returned to Saudi Arabia, neighbors told the St. Petersburg Times in Florida on Thursday. Al-Omari, they said, moved in with a neighbor before leaving the area about a week ago. Atta lived in Coral Springs, Fla., and previously had a driver's license in Egypt. He apparently trained at a flight school in Florida. Chitwood said he is worried about the prospect of terrorists operating out of Portland. "What's their connection to Portland, Maine?" he said. "That's my main concern." He said there is no evidence that Atta had been here before, and that police have no reason to believe a terrorist cell operated from the city. Still, Chitwood said, the possibility that the hijackers had some long-term connection to the city troubles him. Portland detectives have begun an investigation even as they pass information on to the FBI. "The phone calls that come in that we feel have any substance, we go out and investigate them ourselves," Chitwood said. "We also give it to the FBI, but I'm putting detectives on it." Chitwood said police were swamped with more than 200 possible leads and were still pursuing some of them. The local reports were part of a broader, nationwide outpouring of information from people anxious to assist investigators. Federal authorities said Thursday night they had received more than 4,000 tips. The Maine investigation includes state police. Authorities hauled a Dumpster from the Comfort Inn on Wednesday to the state police garage in South Portland, and investigators spent much of Thursday examining each scrap of paper, searching for anything Atta and Al-Omari may have left, information that may lead them to other suspects. Police began to downplay, however, information that any of the suspected terrorists entered Maine through Canada. "We have no indication that the two individuals . . . used any of the border crossings, including at Jackman, the (high-speed ferry) Cat (in Bar Harbor) or the Scotia Prince" ferry in Portland, said Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. The Cat's terminal in Bar Harbor was fairly quiet Thursday. The only evidence of changes after the explosions at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were signs posted around entrances alerting passengers of possible security checks. "Passengers, vehicles and baggage are subject to search prior to boarding our vessel as well as upon arrival," the notice said. A worker at the ticket counter said no one at the terminal could comment on the federal investigation, or on increased security measures. Investigators were busy in Bangor, however. FBI agents questioned an employee of a wireless-phone store near Bangor International Airport, said Rick O'Connor, vice president of Unicel. Several days before the attacks, a group of men who appeared to be from the Middle East entered the company's retail store wanting to buy telephones, he said. He said that store employees refused to sell them the phones because they failed to provide proper identification. The New York Times on Thursday said an employee gave phones to the men after receiving $3,000 in cash. "That's just conjecture," O'Connor said. The Times reported that the men then phoned the Bangor airport looking for a flight to Boston, but that there was no flight that met their desired departure time. The newspaper further reported that the men then phoned the Portland jetport, where two of them apparently made reservations on a Tuesday morning flight to Boston. "There is some communication between airport security and the FBI," Jeff Russell, the Bangor airport's marketing director, told the Press Herald on Thursday. "But there has been nothing that would indicate that this speculation is true." Immigration and Naturalization Service officials on the Jackman border said that security was particularly tight, but would not say exactly what new measures they were taking. "We're doing full inspections," said Debra Szarka, area director for the INS. Cars and trucks were searched, and drivers were questioned about their trip. Jackman residents said that earlier in the day, border guards were wearing bulletproof vests and carefully examining the contents of each vehicle. By afternoon, the vests were not visible. Jackman became important in the investigation after Raymond Stevens, an owner of B&R's Moose Mart convenience store, called the INS with information. Stevens, who spent eight years working for McDonnell Douglas in Saudi Arabia, remembered a conversation he had Aug. 17 with four men who looked as if they were from the Middle East. The men bought gas and spoke Arabic with him. After Tuesday's attacks, he found the credit-card receipt and called officials at the INS checkpoint 16 miles away. Agents took the receipt, copied it and returned it. "He saw it (the World Trade Center disaster) on the news and called immigration just in case," said his wife, Beth Stevens. She declined, however, to provide the name on the receipt. "We don't want to have anything fictitious out there," she said. "We figure they're investigating, and we don't want anything to happen to jeopardize the investigation." Staff Writers Tom Bell, Giselle Goodman, David Hench, Grace Murphy and Selena Ricks contributed to this report. Staff Writer Joshua L. Weinstein can be contacted at 791-6368 or at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
