Michigan Terrorist Probe Suspect Cleared
Three In House Arrested, Two Remain Jailed
POSTED: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
UPDATED: 6:36 am EDT October 11,
2001
DETROIT -- Federal authorities have released a man held as part of a metro Detroit investigation on suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 21, was released Wednesday after three weeks in custody, and the U.S. attorney has dismissed charges against him. His lawyer said charges that he was in any way involved in the attacks should never have been filed.
Ali-Haimoud is an Algerian who was picked up after agents went to a southwest Detroit home looking for Nabil Al-Marabh. Al-Marabh's name was on the mailbox at the Norman Street house, but agents discovered that he had moved out long ago.
Ali-Haimoud, Karim Koubriti and Ahmed Hannan were inside the house when agents arrived, and a subsequent search of the home uncovered a wealth of fake visas, passports, immigration forms and Social Security and immigration identification cards.
Investigators said that they also found diagrams of Detroit/Wayne County Metropolitan Airport, including flight lines and aircraft.
Agents said that they found LSG Sky Chefs employee badges for Hannan, 33, and Koubriti, 23. The two men worked as dishwashers for two months before they stopped coming to work, a company spokesperson said.
FBI agents also found a planner inside the home that the men shared that contained notes referring to the "American military base in Turkey," "Alia Airport in Jordan" and the "American foreign minister" in Arabic handwriting. Investigators were continuing to dig for details of the notations.
A grand jury indicted Koubriti and Hannan, and the two men remain in custody, but have been attempting to raise bond money, Local 4 reported. They are due in federal court in Detroit on Thursday.
The FBI caught Al-Marabh outside of Chicago. They also have another man with ties to the house.
Investigators said that Youssef Hmimssa is allegedly the mystery man whose photo was discovered on IDs found inside the home.
Hmimssa was was captured in Iowa and has been returned to Detroit. He is expected to be in court Thursday to face arraignment on identification fraud charges.
Ali-Haimmoud's attorney has maintained from the start that his client had no connection to the documents. He said that the arrest cost Ali-Haimoud his job.
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