Minneapolis terror suspect licensed to haul hazardous freight

[Snazzy]

Minneapolis terror suspect licensed to haul hazardous freight
Greg Gordon and David Chanen, Star Tribune
June 30, 2004 ELZA0630

The FBI identified Mohamad Elzahabi as a suspected terrorist well before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and more than 2½ years before his arrest last week, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

Yet officials of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said they had no clue that Elzahabi was suspected of having Al-Qaida connections when he applied for, and in early 2002 received, a commercial driver's license to drive a school bus and to haul hazardous materials.

Before the Minneapolis man got final approval for the commercial license, the FBI ran Elzahabi's name through a database and cleared him on Jan. 18, 2002, said Pat McCormack, interim director of the department's Division of Driver and Vehicle Licensing.

....

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1576/4853573.html

AP version:

Terror Suspect Received Haz-Mat License

1 hour, 13 minutes ago

MINNEAPOLIS - A man who authorities believe may have been part of an al-Qaida "sleeper cell" obtained a license to haul hazardous materials months after he was identified as a suspected terrorist by the FBI, officials said.

The FBI identified Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi as a suspected terrorist before the attacks of 2001, the Star Tribune reported in Wednesday's editions, citing unidentified law enforcement officials.

Yet Minnesota Department of Public Safety officials said they did not know that Elzahabi was suspected of having al-Qaida connections when he applied in early 2002 for a commercial license to drive a school bus and haul hazardous materials.

Elzahabi, 41, was charged Friday with lying to federal authorities about helping ship sophisticated portable field radios to Pakistan from 1995-97 and lying about helping a man, later convicted in Jordan as a terrorist, obtain a driver's license in Massachusetts.

....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=533&e=6&u=/ap/20040630/ap_on_re_us/suspect_al_qaida_links

[papau]

1. Thank God Bush has made us safer ...... sigh

But our National media never reports continuing Security problems under Bush - would not want to ruin the Bush image

or is it a desire to help Dems by not raising the fear factor ??? -

Nope Fear factor raising is done every day by media - this is just protecting the Bush image.