Terror Suspect Received Haz - Mat License

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Suspect-al-Qaida-Links.html

Terror Suspect Received Haz - Mat License
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:00 a.m. ET

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- 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.<snip>